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DOROTHY KEMPE.

THE INTRODUCTION TO, AND PART V OF,

HSBBT LOYBUCH'S YBRSE 'HI8T0BT OF tHE HOLT OEAIL,'
EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY, 1874, -6, -7, -8.

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■ICBAmO OLAT 4 •Om, UMITBD, LOMDOV AMD mroAT.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

BY DOROTHY KEMPE.

§ 1. The Charader and DevelopmetU of

the Orail Legend^ p. r.
%% The ScureeB (^ the Cfrail Cycle of

JSomancet p. vi
S S. The Ckridian Legmdary Portion

0/ the OtaUOyeU: The ConU del

Oraal, p. Tiii.

S 4. JRoberi de Barron and the Proeer

Bomancee, p. zir.
§5. The Sowreee <if the ^Qrand Si,

Oraalf* p. zviL
§6. The Brandon Legend A the 'Grand

St. Oraal' p. zxii.
S 7. The Bleeding Lance and Joeeph of

Arimatheat p. xxziL

§ 1. THS CHABAOTBB AND DBYSLOFMBNT OF THlfi OBAIL LITBIUTURK^

§ 1. Thb critical work of the last forty yean, and in particular the
revival of interest in the remains of early Celtic literature, whether
Welsh or Irish, has placed the study of the Arthurian Romances
upon a somewhat different basis to that which it occupied when the
History of the Holy Grail, in LoveUch's metrical rendering, was
first published in 1861, and necessitates some further words of
introduction to the present edition. These studies have not indeed
solved all difficulties of detail, but they have provided an acceptable
solution for the general problem ; they have invested our well-loved
tales with an even more venerable halo of antiquity; they have
made more peculiarly our own that ** mati^re de Bretagne " to which
alien learning had sometimes laid daim, by associating its origins
with the primitive religion of early inhabitants of our islands.

The Arthurian literature, in its manifold phases, represents
in a unique manner the intellectual growth of a people : it mirrois
from a remote past dark pictures of bloodshed and revenge ; it reflects
the age of courtly chivalry and the romance of Crusading days ; the
fervid morality of the monk; the activity and enterprise of this
Elizabethan Age ; the idealism of the nineteenth century.

To the modem mind it is seen, in Lovelich's version, in the least
attractiye stage of its growth, for as a literary monument, or as a
work of art^ his History of the Holy GraU is valueless. The interest
of the so-called Grand St. Graal, and hence of its English rendering,
liea^.tba.iaci-thatL it is the principal witness remaining to us of a
strange and anomalous phase in the development of the Graal litera-
t^fi^ namely, the introduction of the Christian Legendary element.
It was no doubt owing to this fresh graft that the ancient tales made

vi § 2. The Sources of the Orail Cycle of Bomance.

80 powerful axL appeal to the inediaBval mind» and that the giowth of
the cyde was so long continned. Bat at first the fusion of the new.
material with the old remained incomplete : in Lovelich's poem, as in
its prose original, the combination from an artistic point of view
spelt disaster. It was left for the master hand of Malory, in an age
when myth and mysticism had become alike echoes from an onreiJized
\past, to bring the jarring elements into final harmony. It is from his
pages also that ' Solomon's Ship/ the * Sword of Strange Hangings,'
and the 'Turning Isle' which he took over from the prose romance,
the Queste del San Graal, have become familiar to the general reader,

LoyeUcb writes of the ship " wondirly fair and riche," of the
sword with its handle made of serpent scales and the bone of a fish of
the Euphrates, and of the Tl Tomeawnt But, as always, he proves
himself no story toller, and his version of the famous episodes may
be commended with the rest of his voluminous and incoherent
ramblings, to a merciful oblivion.

The proUems connected with the Celtic originals of the Grail
legend, both in their Welsh and Irish forms, have been so fully and
satisfactorily dealt with by Mr. Nutt in his ' Studies in the Legend
of the Holy Grail,' and in part also by Professor Bhys in his
' Arthurian Bomance,' that I do not propose to enter anew into the
discussion ; but while briefly re-stating the position as they leave- it,
to treat in somewhat greater detail the problems specially connected
with the version now before us.

This version is a translation into rhymed couplete of the French
Prose Bomance known to critics of the cycle as the Grand St. Graal.
The translation was made about 1450 by one Herry Lovelich,^ a
London skinner.

§ 9. THB 80UB0E8 OF THB OBAIL OTOLB OF ROMANGX.

/ The material of that body of literature known as the Grail
Bomances has been shown by careful analysis to consist, broadly
speaking, of two main elements.

To the more important of the two belongs a basis of Celtic
popular tradition; to the less considerable a basis of Christian

^ HiB name was Lovelich, not Lonalich. Dr. Henry Bradley, when editing
the> L worde for the Oxford Dictionary, found that ' lonely ' did not exist as
early as 1440 A.ii., and therefore urged that 'Lonelich' ought to hare been
printed 'Lovelich.' Dr. Fuxnivall referred the point to Dr. Keginald Shaipo,
the Record-Clerk at the Ouild-Hall, and h^ at once settled it by producing
« exthtcts from his records, showine that Henry Lovelich was a citizen of London
and a member of the Skinners' Company.

§ 2. ITie Sources of the Orail Cycle of Bomance. vii

Legend. * As might be expected, given their very diverse character,
^^(T combination of these elements is at first a merely tentative one,
and only as time goes on, and the material is re-cast and re-handled,
does the fasion beeome more or less complete.

But so composite in character are the Romances, that to discover
their two chief constituents is bat to take a first step in analysis.
Tnming^first to the. element of Celtic popular tradition^ we axe met
by farther complications. Here is no logical series of incidents,
centring roond the person of a single hero. The ' Quest of the Holy
Orail' has played a large part in imaginative literature, but the
romancers themselves wrote with no clear idea of what that Quest
meant. The conception which they have in common can be stated
only in the barest outline, and implied no more than " the hero's
visit to a magic castle, his onussion while there to do certain things,
the loss and suffering thereby entailed.'' And this simple series
of incidents may be found not once but many times in the work of
the same writer ; the hero of it is not always the same person — ^now
Perceval, now Gawain, now Galahad fills the r61e. Sometimes the
visitor is seeking revenge for the murder of a kinsman of his own,
sometimes he is charged with the release from spells and enchant-
ment of the inmates of the castle; there is besides endless and
bewildering variety of detail. The popular idea of a ' Quest ' seems
indeed rather to have resulted from the accidental coherence of
certain minor incidents than to have been from the first the great
central conception of the Eomances, and there is the same kind
of indefiniteness about the nature and properties of the magic
vessel.

No theory of authorship, in the ordinary sense of the word,
seems to meet all the difficulties of the case. The remains of Celtic
Literature as they exist outside the cycle afford, however, valuable
elues. Many of the episodes which are built into the Romances
are found elsewhere, in quite different surroundings. Such, for
example, is the account of the birth and upbringing of Perceval
(or Peredur), given in the Eomances of Chrestien de Troyes and
the Mabinogi of Peredur, son of Evrawc. This episode figures
not only in the Celtic, but in the Heroic Literature of all Aryan
races as far as known. There is no tale extant in which such
a vessel as the Grail plays a prominent part; but vessels with
magic properties, cauldrons of knowledge and increase, and jars
which hold the ointment of healing or of restoration to life, play a

<s

\

viii § 3. The Christian Legendary Portion of the OraU Cycle.

subeidiarj part in very many such tales. To this fact ita pieeenoe in
the Cycle was originally due; its important position among the
instruments of magic found there arose out of its gradual identifica-
tion with the Christian Cup of Blessing, and was the chief result of
the intrusion of the secondaiy or Christian element
I The Grail Romances were in fact the outcome of centuries of
imaginative growth^ the Romancers bound into sheaves what had
. been sown under other skies. The character of the whole body of
j romance is best understood when its most prominent member, the«
'Conte del Graal/ is regarded as "a North-French re-telling of
popular tales long current in Britain, and probably alsa among the
Celtic inhabitants of Brittany, and the idea of any definite Grail
Legend is abandoned."^

§ 8. THE CHRISTIAN LEOINDABT PORTION OF THE ORAIL CYCLE

THE OONTE DEL OBAAL.

No member of the Grail group of Romances, not even
Mabinogi of Peredur, in which the Grail as such does not appear, is
entirely free from the influence of Christian Legend, though in the
earlier Romances there is little or no attempt at amalgamating it
with the material drawn from Celtic popular tales. Can any
attempt be made to say where and with whom this strange feature
originated! A short survey of existing material may help us to
find an answer to this question.

We meet with it at the very outset of our examination in the

y^'Conte del Graal,' a composite poem which, in form if not in
substance, contains the oldest work remaining to us. The earliest
portion of the Conte del Graal to which it is possible to attach the
^ author's name, is the work of Chrestien de Troyes. In the Mons
MS. of the Conte del Graal, and in that alone, Chrestien's poem is
preceded by a passage first distinguished by sixteenth century
commentators as ''the Elucidation." There is no proof that the
Elucidation was known to Chrestien, or that he made use of it in
any way, but it is in itself of great interest, for it is not only
eloquent of the great body of tradition now lost to us, but it suggests

Nmuch re-handling of older material prior to Chrestien's attempt
The author of the Prologue draws out under seven headings the
plan of an elaborate composition : ** Now the court was found seven
times, and each time shall have a fresh tale." The question of

» Nutt, p. 170.

§ 3. The Chridian Legendary PcHion of the Orail Cyde. is

special interest to us is, what was included, or what was to have
been indaded, in the seventh and most pleasing portion of the work,
which told of ** the lance wherewith Longis pierced the side of the
King of Holy Migesty." Upon this Chrestien throws no light
As far as his portion of the Conte del Graal is concerned the l^ndary
element is entirely absent Perciyal, the hero, is instructed by his
mother in the doctrines of the Church, and in the knowledge of
Jesus Christy the Holy Prophet, His Death upon the Cross, and. His
Crown of Thorns. There is a reference also to the penitents of
Grood Friday. But those objects which later on become the centres
of Christian Legend, Grail and Lance, have as yet no sacred signifi-
cance. A squire brings in a bleeding lance; the Grail appears
home by a damsel and shining beyond the light of stars; but^
Peroeval does not ask the meaning of either apparition.

We pass on to the portion of the Conte del Graal which belongs
to Wauchier de Denain or Donaing, who took up the thread of the
Story where Chrestien laid it down. For the purposes of argument
the following adventure which Wauchier ascribes to Gawain must
be repeated in detaiL

Gawain dresses himself in the armour of an unknown knight,
slain by invisible hands at Arthur's court Riding through Brittany
and Normandy he comes to a castle, where, owing to the armour
he wears, he is hailed as lord. In one room he sees a knight
lying on a bier, with a cross and broken sword on his body. Whilst
at table he sees the Grail serving out bread and wine to the knights,
and also a lance bleeding into a silver cup. A knight brings him
the broken sword, and asks him to put together the pieces, which he
cannot do. He then asks about lance, sword, and bier, and is told
the lance is that with which Christ was pierced in the side, and
that it will bleed tiU Domesday. Before the tales of cup and sword
can be told, Gawain falls fast asleep, and finds himself on the sea-
shore, and the country, before desolate, now bursting into green
leaf; this has happened because he asked about the lance; the
oouhtty-folk bless him for this, but curse him for not completing
their deliverance by asking about the Grail.

The adventure is found in all the MS8. , but the Mons MS. uid two
others (B. N. 12576 and IS, A. 6614) omit a passage which in Mont-
pellier MS. and the rest is placed between 1. 20294 and 11. 20295, 6 :

Atant comen^a k plorer
£t en plorant k raconter.

/

X § 3. The MofUpeUier and Berne MSS. : IrUerpolatione.

This long passage bears in itself the evidence of its having been
interpolated.

In the Gawain episode qaoted above it will be remembered that
the hero is made to ask about lance, sword and bier. He is satisfi^
as to the first, but falls asleep before the history of the sword is
completed, and when he awakes, the country-folk reproach him for
not having asked also about the Grail. But in the Montpellier MS.,
and its group, some one who failed to see the bearing of Gawain* s
omission upon the conduct of the story, has forestalled the reproaches
of the country people by supplying the whole previous history of
\the GraiL The passage interpolated tells how Our Lord loved the
Grail, and honoured it with His Blood on the day of His Crucifixion.
Joseph had the Grail made, and put it imder Our Lord's Feet to
catch the flowing blood. He begged Chnst's Body from Pilate^
wrapped it up and laid it in a tomb. Joseph treasured the Grail ;
he laid it in a rick chest, and burned two tapers before it daily,
and prayed before it for love of the Sacred Blood. On this account
the Jews imprisoned him in a high tower. He prayed the Lord to
deliver him from the tower, and the Grail from the hands of the
Jews. He was delivered without difficulty, but the Jews hearing
of it sent him into exile with all his friends, and his sister and
that Nicodemuswho had an ''image" of Christ. They set sail in
search of the land which Qod had promised to Joseph, the White
Isle, a part of England. ^ And in the third year of their sojourn,
those of the land rose up and warred against them. When Joseph
had need of food, he prayed God to send him the Grail, whereiii
he had received the Sacred Blood. And they all 'sat down to
dine, and the Grail went about and fed them all with bread
and wine, in great plenty. And Josephs kept peace with his foiBS
until his death, and at his end he prayed God that the Grail might
remain with his seed. Thus it was in truth, that after his death ho
one had sight of it, whatever his descent, if he were not of this high
lineage ; the Bich Fisher was of that kin, and so was Greloguevaus,
of whom came Perceval.

Later on in Wauchier's narrative, when the stoiy has returned to
Perceval, there is an account of the appearance of the Grail to that
hero.

During his journeying in the forest, after he left the Castle of
Maidens, he meets a damsel leading a white mule, and joins himself
to her, although she entreats him not to do so. He presently sees a

\

^ 3. The MontpMier arid Berne M3S.: Interpolations, zi

great light in the forest, and taming to ask her. what it means he
finds her gone, and a violent storm OTertakes him. Next day he
enjDoonters her again, she haying felt no storm. She tells him the
light came from the Grail (Gr^us), fair and precipos, in which the
giotioua blood of the King of kings was received as He hung on the
Cross ; the Devil may not lead astray any man on the day he see^ it,
and therefore the king has it carried about

Apart from the interpolation already dealt with, this passage is
our first introduction to a new conception of the GraiL Up to now
we have had no hint of its connection with Our Lord's Passion
beyond the explanation, twice repeated, of the Bleeding Spear as
being that wherewith Longinus pierced the side of Christ.

Ghrestien mentioQs. the b^ght ]ig^t which_shone from the Grail,
without giving it any particular signilGLBance.

MS. Berne 113 supplies an independent conclusion to Wauchier^s

story. His narrative, as the majority of the MSS. give it, tells of

Perceval's arrival at the Fisher [King's Castle, and how he there

renews his inquiries about Graal and Lance. But the King puts

him off with an explanation of a comparatively unimportant incident,

the apparition of the child in the t^^ee, and with the imposition of a

test. Here Wauchier's portion in all probability ends with the

words,

£ Perceval se reconf orte,

and the knight's questions never meet with any reply. ^

But %s at another crisis of the story, some one is at hand to add .
a ready and plausible explanation of the difficulties.

Prom the conclusion of the MS. Berne 113 we learu that the lance :
was that which pierced the side of Christ. Perceval gives his other's
name, Alains li Gros, and the Fisher King replies that Alains li
Gros was his son by Enigeus, sister ta Joseph, to whom the body of
Christ when taken down from the Cross was committed by Pilate as •
a reward for his services. Nicodemus took it down and gave it to
Joseph, who prepared a vessel to hold the Blood from the Sacred '
Wounds. Jesus had made the Sacrament in this vessel the Thursday
before.

Already then, ifirith the first continuator of th^ Conte del Graal,
we have the Grail conception enlarged by the introduction of a new
element, the element of Christian Mysticism ; and side by side with
the fairyland figures of the Fisher {Ling and the knights of Arthur's
court, we find the quasi-Scriptural or Christian Legendary figures of

xii § 3. The MoTUpellier and Berne MSS. : Interpolations,

Joseph of Arimaihea, and his sister, and Nicodemus ingenionslj
drawn into a semblance of relaiibnsliip. But it is noteworthy that
this new element slips In in casual references, or hy way of inter-
poktion not too nr^ contrived, and is in no sense a Yital part of
the stoij.

The Interpolation and the Berne conclusion, though found in
different manuscripts, and inserted at different points in Wauchier's
narrative, have in reality the same object in view. That object is
to call attention emphatically to the connection between the story
of the Graal and the story of Joseph of Arimathea, a connection
which Wauchier had passed over with a brief reference, and
without any mention of Joseph's name. The &ct that the Inter-
polation interrupts the logical flow of the narrative, and that the
Berne conclusion has not the sanction of Wauchier himself, does
not in the least deter the unknown commentators from making their
additions.

For some reason, at which we can only guess, Wauchier's
reticence struck them as unaccountable, and whether for fear the
popularity of his poem should suffer, or whether for the sake of
edification, they hastened to say themselves what Wauchier ought to
have said.

Wauchier's references to the sacred uses of Grail and Lance,
apart from the Elucidation, put quite out of the question any
suggestion that with the commentators themselves originated a new
and fortuitous connection between the Grail and the Passion of
Our Lord. Nor is it more likely that out of Wauchier's descrip-
tion of the Grail they evolved the Joseph episodes. Wauchier's
reference is sufficient for all artistic purposes ; a mention of Joseph
and his after-history was quite uncalled for. The commentators
made their additions clumsily and unskilfully, and quite inde-
pendently of one another. The connection between the two stories
was one they were evidently both familiar with in aU its details.
They were in all probability drawing from memory upon material
they had gathered elsewhere, for in comparison with the ample
narrative of the rest of the poem, their additions are little more
vthan summaries of leading facts. We may go a step further and say
that the character of the passages suggests that the Joseph tradition
came to the knowledge of the commentators in a literary form;
there is from the first an absence of spontaneity about the
Joseph episodes, as compared with the rest of the cycle, which

§ 3. The MorUpellier and Berne MSS. : Interpolations, xiii

suggests for them a literary lather than a popular origin. This^
characteristic becomes more and more marked as time goes on; the
Joseph portions are nntouched throughout by that wild and Wayward
imagination^ the elfin fancy, which the art of the Homancers can
prone but cannot uproot In their last stages they fall away into
the lowest depths of banality and grotesqueness.

But granted the existence of a literary forbear, is it possible to
identify it wholly or partially with any existing member of the
Grail cycle)

In the case of the Interpolation the question must practically bo
answered in the negative. The passage is most nearly related to
the Grand St. Graal and to portions of the Quests del San Graal.
The former is a composite narrative belonging as a whole to a later
period than Wauchier^s Conte del GraaL The boldness and niutvet^
of the interpolator's story makes it more than probable that he drew
his material firom some lost and forgotten Early History, which was
later elaborated into the existing Grand St Graal, and from which
the Quests was a borrowe|r. The question will be d^t with more
folly later on. >n^

Critics have named both Bobert de Borron and the prose
romance Perceval of the Didot MS. as the source of the Berne
conclusion. In either case there are certain difficulties of detail to «
be overcome. De Borron makes Brons the father of Alain, but
gives no name to the ** son of his son." The Didot-Ferceval agrees
with the Berne conclusion in identifying Perceval with the son of
Alain. But, on the other hand, the statement that the Graal vessel
was the same in which Our Lord made the Sacrament on Maundy
Thursday tallies rather with De Borron than with the Didot-Perceval.
But in neither case are the diBcrepancies so great that we are of
necessity thrown back upon a hypothetical Early History as the
source of the commentator's information.

To return for the moment to the question with which our survey
began. Up to the present, apart from conjectures based upon
literary criteria, we can draw no definite conclusions from the
material supplied by Wauchier and his commentators towards the
solution of the main problem, namely, who first combined the
ancient tales of mystery with the legends of tbe Christian Church.
Chrestien is silent. The Elucidation remains to perplex and
tantalise us with the title of its seventh sub-division, the tale of
Longinus and the Spear, but we have no means of judging if in its

\

xiv § 4. JRobert de Somm and the Prose Romances.

pages Joseph of Aiimathea had already been drawn into the channed
ci^e of Arthur's court.

As the result of our survey, on one point alone can we feel any
degree of certainty : as for the Perceval portion so for the Joseph
portion of the Grail cycle, a prototype must have existed which
survives for us only in the adaptations of later writers.

§ 4. ROBERT DB BORRON AND THB PR06B ROMAN0B8.

Hitherto we have had to deal but with fragmentary references 9sA
interpolations. The first writer to make serious use of Christian
Legend in connection with the Grail, was Bobert de Borron, author
of a metrical poem, ' Joseph of Arimathea ' ; and with him a new
aspect of the problem presents itself.

De Borron mi^kes two important contributions to our material in
(1) the introduction of an entirely new group of peraonsi headed by
one Brons, who is to be keeper of the Grail after Joseph's death, and
whose son, Alain, is to lead the host of Joseph's companions westr
ward to the vale of Avalon ; and (2) springing out of this, in the
introduction of the idea of a mission of conversion. Alain and his
brethren, at the command of Joseph, go westward and preach the
name of Christ

The names of Brons, Alain, Petrus and the rest have been taken
as evidence that their owners were of Celtic origin, but in their
existing shape, they primarily suggest that de Borron drew his
material from a Latin source.^ To the question of an ultimate Celtic
original it will be necessary to return again. For the moment we
must recognize that de Borron can safely be accredited only with the
sacramental and moral expositions of which his poem contains so
large a share. Probably no inventions of fact or incident are his due,
but rather a share in obliterating^ although with the best intentions,
the earlier outlines of the tale. De Borron's debt to the past is, in
fact, no less than that of the writers with whom we have already
dealt, and he brings us little nearer to the solution of the problem.
^ The two prose works next to be considered, the ' Queste del San
Graal,' attributed in the MSS. to Walter Mapes, uid the so-called

* Grand St Graal' (attributed in the same way, but with less,
likelihood, to de Borron), stand^ in as close relationship to one
another as does the last-named to the Joseph poem. The Queste
belongs to the last twenty-five years of the twelfth century. The

* Chronicle of Helinandus' contains a reference to the Grand St. Graal

^4i. The' QuesU d^l San Groud' & the ' Grand St. Graai: xr

(in some earlier foim than that in which we have it), which can
lelate to no other member of the cycle. The Chionicle closea with ^
the capture of Constantinople by the French in 1204, but, as Dr.
Sebastian Evans has pointed out,^ it is improbable that any part of
it was written before Helinandus became a monk at Froidmont about
the year 1209, or that the latest portion was composed after 1227.
The Grand St Graal must therefore have appeared before 1227, and
the character of the reference to it in the Chronicle makes it clear
that by that date its fame was already well established, and brings
it in all probability within twenty or thirty years of the date of the
Queste.

The older portions of the Grand St Graal are prior to anything
in the Queste, and probably the nearest representative remaining
to us of that prototype of the Joseph portion of the legend from
which the post-Chrestien sections of the Conte del Graal drew their
information. But the later portions of the Grand St. Graal appear
to have been influenced by the Queste ; at any rate they contain a
confused reminiscence of portions of the Queste characteristically
weak and incoherent.

The main incidents which the two works have in common are :
The histoiy of King Evelach's wars with Tholome, and of his Magic
Shield (in which the Queste finds a symbolical meaning).

The stories of the three tables and the Seat Perilous, and the
incident of the old woman with her loaves.

The story of Crudel and his treatment of Josephes, Mordrains
and Seraphe.

The lineage and vision of Celidoine.

The history of Solomon's Ship, the Turning Isle, and the three
Spindles. The history of Josephes, son of Joseph, first Bishop of
Christendom, and his celebration of the Mass (the Queste includes
this in Galahad's Vision).

in the Queste these passages are all introduced by some such
formula as " it is told as follows," and are in no case essential parts
of the narrative. Generally speaking, the borrowing lay with Walter
Mapes rather than with the author of the Grand St. Graal. But the ^
question is a very complicated one. For the Grand St. Graal is only
explicable if we suppose it to have been written and re-written at
different times, and each time with growing carelessness and lack of

1 'High History of the Holy Grail.' TranBlator's Epilogue, p. 298
d 9eq,

OBAIL. b

y

xvi § 4. Tht ' $W€a^« dd San Graal ' ikthe' Grand St. OraalJ

skill, and readiness to include the most irrelevant episodes. And in
the final recast the usual order seems to have been reversed, and the
Queste has reacted upon the older tale in points of detail. Both
histories are strikingly inferior to the Conte del Graal in imaginative
and artistic power. It is unnecessary to suppose that the author of
the Queste had any knowledge of de Borron's poem. On the par-
ticular subjects with which they both deal, the Queste contains
nothing which its author cannot have learnt from the Grand St
GraaL In Mr. Nutt's opinion, had the Joseph poem fallen into the
hands of Walter Mapes, it must have proved so congenial to his taste
for mystical interpretation, that its influence could not fail to have
shown itselfl

The relation between the Grand St. Graal and de Bonon's work
is of much greater significance. The Grand St Graal follows de
Borron in the main in its account of Christ's visit to Joseph in the
prison, of Vespasian, and the cloth of Veronica ; and in its pages we
meet once more with the important group of characters headed by
Brons, the Grail-keeper.

The contributions of the remaining writers of the Cycle axe of
less importance to us, because the matter they introduce shows no
trace of having been borrowed elsewhere than in the writings
already discussed. Manessier, the third continuator of the Conte
del Graal, suumiarizes the history of the Lance, of Joseph's
acquisition of the Graal, and of his relations to Evelac, to all
appearance from the accc/unt in the Grand St Graal. Gerbert's
portion of the Conte del Graal is in all probability not a con-
tinuation of Manessier^s, but an independent ending, following
on Wauchier's. He brings Perceval, in the course of his search for
Grail and Lance, to an abbey, where he leams the story of ' Joseph
of Barimaschie.' His account of Joseph's arrival in Britain shows

.some slight variations, which from their character are probably the
author^s own invention. Joseph has two fair ladies as companions,
one of whom, Philosophine, has a plate, the other an ever-bleeding
lance. The Crudel episode is given, and Mordrains is punished for

Ndrawing near to the Grail.

^ The attempt already apparent in Gerbert to give greater coherence
to the story, culminates in the Perceval of the Didot MS., which on
this account must be placed after the rest in point of chronology.
Here Brons, the Eich Fisher, again comes into prominence as the
Grail-keeper; Joseph is only referred to as his ancestor, the first

§ 6. The Sources of the ' Grand St. Cfraal.* xvii

Orail-keeper, and maker of the second famous table. In this way,
the difficulty of the two Grail-keepers is ingeniously solved.

The later Prose Somance of Perceval li Gallois, or Perlesvazy is of
interest for our present purpose chiefly because it shows the direc-
tion in which the Christian Legendary element tended to develop.
There we have not only the shield of Joseph of Arimathea hung in
Arthur's hall at Carduel, but a shield which had belonged to Judas
Maccabeus; not only the lance of Longinus, but also the sword with
which St. John Baptist was beheaded, and which at noonday dripped
blood. And Lancelot sees at the Castle of the Golden Circlet a
jewelled crown, in which is enclosed the Crown of Thorns. For the
rest the Eomancer repeats the Early History of the GraU and of
Joseph's imprisonment Joseph is possessor of Grail and Lanoe.
He is also author of the Grail Histoiy which he wrote down at the
iQommand of an angel, but this distinction he shares with thd his-
torian Josephus, with whom the Eomancer identifies him. The mother
of Perceval is Iglais, sister to Joseph^ and 'Uhe good knight" is
descended from Kicodemus through his father, Julians (for Alain t) ^
li Gros.

§ 5. THE 80UBGB8 OF THE GRAND ST. ORAAL.

We find ourselves at the close of our survey no better able than
before to answer definitely the question to whom the appearance of
Joseph of Arimathea in the Grail Cycle is to be attributed. We are
simply thrown back upon Uie hypothesis of lost prototypes. But to
a further question, why, and a still further one where^ this introduc-
tion came about, some more satisfactory reply may perhaps be found.

A good deal of material included in the Joseph Episodes can
definitely be assigned to well-known sources, and especially the
Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. What cannot be learnt from^
Christian Legendary History are the leading facts as far as the
Grail story is concerned. As they stand, these facts have become
modified, distorted, transformed, by contact with the older Celtic
tales. But they still possess some features in which it is possible
to ^ace the line of thought which led some long-ago story-teller to
place the two, side by side, upon his page. ^

The most important of these facts are (1) Joseph's possession of
the Grail — ^his position as Grail-keeper bound to hand on the sacred
vessel to his seed, — and (2) his missionary journey to Britain.
Both tiiese positions Joseph shares, in the fullest versions of his ^
stoiy, with another personage, one Brons.

xviii § 5. Bran in WeWi LUeixiture : Brans in the Grail Cycle.

The Joseph poem of de Borron, as it remains to us, is clearly
abridged and arranged, and in its present condition, all the latter
parts, which relate the journeys to Britain, are very fragmentary
and incoherent. De Borron does not in fact make it clear that
Joseph himself ever went to Britain. That is left to Brons and his
son Alain, and on the latter the charge of preaching the gospel is
most definitely laid.

In the Grand St. Graal the missionary idea is more fully
developed, and at the outset Joseph in prison receives the com-
mission of Christ. In de Borron, the Grail vessel is committed to
Brons and Alain, and the former is called the Eich Fisher, a name
which connects him with the undoubtedly Celtic portions of the
Cyde.

These facts make it clear that in Brons and the episodes
especially connected with him, we have material of great importance
for the development of the Cycle.

As has been said, the personal names in de Botron's poem bear
traces of the Latin Tersion through which they passed into his
hands. Brons is one of these names, and its close relationship to
the ''Bran" of Celtic tradition is unmistakable.

Bran played a more conspicuous part in the early literature of
Wales than in early Irish Literature. The Mythology of Ancient
Wales makes Bran to have been son of Llyr, the god of the sea and
the world of waters, often also associated with darkness. Bran was
closely connected with the under-world, and is probably also to be
identified with XJrien, Lord of Eheged, a district located in the far
north. Ireland, Scotland, and the whole region of the north, lands
of fable and mystery to the inhabitants of Western Britain,
represent mythically in the geography of Arthurian Legend, the
untrodden world of Hades, the Otherworld of the dead. In Welsh^
poetry, Urien is addressed as Lord and Blessed Prince of the
Evening, and in one of the poems ascribed to Taliessin appears as
Lord of the Dead and Principal Pilgrim to a distant City. A poem
in tlie Bed Book of Hergest gives to Urien a black crow, or raven, on
his breast, as a fitting attribute, and "Bran" is Welsh for this emblem.
In the Grail Cycle, Bron is first brought on the scenes by de Borron
as brother-in-law of Joseph of Arimathea, and husband of his sister
Enigeus, whose name recalls that of Yg^ne, the Eomancers' version
of Ygueme, wife of Uther Ben-Dragon, and mother of Arthur.

Brons and his wife journey with a band of followers to a far

§ 5. The vessel of the Cfrail : Us properties. ziz

country. After a time of prosperity the work of Joseph's followers
tnms to ilL They complain to Brons that they are suffering hunger,
and Brons reports this to Joseph* Joseph kneels before the holy
vessel for inspiration, and a voice from heaven bids him prepare
a table in the name of the table of the Last Supper. Brons
{Hebron) is then to go into the water and catch a fish. The first he
catches is to be put on the table opposite the Grail, which is to be
covered with a towel. Joseph is to sit where Christ sat at the
Sacrament of the Last Supper, and the people are to be summoned
to sit down to the Grace of our Lord. Some sit down, and are
filled with sweetness and the desire of their hearts ; some do not,
and they feel nothing. Petrus, one of the sinners, tells them this
is because of their defilement The sinners depart, but Joseph bids
them come back day by day, and thus is the vessel proved. It
detects sinners from saints, as it has no love for any sinner. It
is called Grail ; none see it but those to whom it is agreeable, and
their delight in it is like that of a fish escaping out of a man's
hand into the water. In the Grand St. Graal the story is told at
greater length, and with some difference of detail; for example,
Alain appears as the fishehnan in place of his father, Brons*
Josephes, son of Joseph, and his company go to Britain, and he
converts many to Christianity by the power of his preaching. They
come one day to a waste land (Terre Gaste) where food is scarce,
and all the company are not worthy to be fed by the holy vessel.
In the midst of the valley they find a great pool, and at the head
cf the pool a vessel with a fishing-net in it. The sinners being
very hungry come to Josephes, and ask his counsel. Josephes calls
for Aleyn le Gros, the twelfth son of Brons and minister of the
Oraal, and bids him cast his net into the water, and catch fish for
the company. Aleyn (Alain) does his bidding, and when the net
is drawn to land, only one large fish is found in it. The fish is
cooked and cut up into three parts, one of which is put at each
«nd of the table, and one in the midst With many tears Alain
prays before the vessel, and a miracle is wrought, so that it more
than suffices for the whole company. Alain ever after bears the
name of the Rich Fisher, and the pond is called Alain's pond.

The incidents in Celtic talies which may be compared with
these are but scanty and leave much room for conjecture. In the
first place, as to the connection of Brons or Bran with the Grail
vessel, opposite which, perhaps originally into which', he was to put

§ 5. Ghoyddno and Mphin. The Salmon of Wisdom.

his fiBh when caught There is no mention in the tale of Bran's
Head, in the Mabinogi of Branwen, of any yessel comparable to the
Grail, though the companions of the Head, like those privfleged ta
be fed by the Grail, never lacked the best of food and diinkst.
Bran was, however, the possessor of a cauldron, brought to him by
LlasBsr Llaesgyvnewid and his wife from the Lake of the Cauldron
in Ireland, the properties of which are thus described: ''if one of
thy men be slain to-day, and be cast therein to-morrow, he will
be as well as ever he was at the best, except that he will not regain
his speech." .

As regards the episode of the fishing, the evidence is again for
the most part conjectural. We have no information in Welsh
Literature about the descendants of Bran. But in the summary of
mythic history already given, it was suggested that he might be
identified with Urien, Lord of Rheged, god of the Underworld. In
that group of the ''dark divinities" of Welsh Mythology, which
includes Urien, Bran the Blessed, and Uther Ben-Dragon, personages
with many attributes in common, and whose names appear to a
certain extent to be interchangeable, two are found who possess sons
of the name of Elphin, one of these being Urien, the other a-
^^ certain Gwyddno Garanhir.

A tale told in the prose portion of the Story of Taliessin, of
Elphin, son of Gwyddno, to which Professor Rhys has called
attention, though of more doubtful antiquity than the verse portions,,
has some bearing on the episodes at present under discussion.

Gw3rddno Garanhir (Heron-Fisher) has a weir on the strand
between Dyvi and Abeiystwyth, near to his own castle, and th»
value of a hundred pounds is taken in it every May Eve. One
year, he grants the drawing of it to his only son Elphin, to give*
him something wherewith to begin the world. But when Elphin
gees to try his luck, there is nothing in the weir, but a leathern
bag on the pole of the weir. And in the leathern bag was the
boy-bard Taliessin. To console Elphin for his disappointment ho^
makes him a promise:

In the day of trouble I will be
of more service to thee
than many hundred salmon.

In this tale both Gwyddno and Elphin are represented as fisher-
men, just as Brons and Alain in the Grand St. Graal and the Joseph
poem, when taken together. Alain and Elphin have two other

§ 5. Gwyddno and Elphin. The Salmon of Wisdom. xx£

features in common. Each is successful in a solitary capture, and
Alain alone of all his kindred never wore a crown« while Elphin
is described as a luckless youth. \

The inferences that may be fairly drawn from the foregoing are
indeed but slight The name of Brons suggests the identification of
this hero with the Bran of Welsh and Irish tales, who is Lord of the
*Otherworld. In support of this, we find Brons brought into con-
nection with a vessel possessing magic powers. Such a vessel is one
of th^ stereotyped possessions of the Celtic Dis in his various shapes.
Again Brons and his son are fishermen, and the single fish which
they catch has magic properties. Other fragments of Welsh story
show us the god of the Otherworld and his son, under other names,
following in the same pursuit with the same small success. Inferences
slight indeed, yet not without their value. A fish with magic pro-
perties is a prominent feature in many Irish Mythological tales.
With that fish, " the Sabnon of Wisdom," Mr. Nutt suggests the
comparison of Brons' capture ; he himself is " that being who passes
his life in vain endeavour to catch the wonderful fish, and who in
j^e moment of success is robbed of the fruit of all his long toil and
watchings." ^

This comparison is the more suggestive when it is remembered
that the idea underlying the visit of Perceval to the Magic Castle,
the dwelling of Brons, the Fisher King, is allied to the same world-
wide myth : the myth of a mortal's visit to the other world, in quest
of riches, power or knowledge, to be bestowed as a boon on his race.
That is to say, the Brons Fishing episode falls into line with the rest
of 1^ Cycle as possessing the same imderlying conception, as belong-
ing to the same set of tales, and sharing with them certain features
which rendered it all the more likely to be caught up into the same
web of romance. The Romancers themselves, no less than those from
whom they borrowed facts and incidents, were completely unaware of
this underlying mythical conception ; they put their own interpreta-
tion upon the tales, and at a later stage, they disguised them almost
past recognition in the garb of Christian symbolism. But enough
remains to leave little doubt that Brons and Alain derive from a
Celtic stock. .

But if this be the case, how is it that they are found in the
incongruous rdle of Evangelists to Britain % In de Borron's poem the /
mi^on of conversion belongs even more to them than to Joseph of

» Kutt, p. 209.

^

xxii § 6. Mythological features qftke 'Namgatio Sancti BrendanV

Arimathea, and there is nothing in the Christian Legendaiy History
upon which the poet drew so largely, to suggest that any such com-
mission was given to Joseph. Is that mission entirely de Bonon's
inventioni or was it suggested to him or to his predecessor hy any-
thing in the story of Brons as it came to his knowledge? Some
furth^ search into the stories which on Irish soil centred about
Bran strengthens this last supposition.

§ 6. THB BRANDAN LIEOBND AND THS GBAND ST. ORAAU

The part played in Irish Literature by Bran, brother to ManannSn
mac lir, the great wizard (the Welsh Manaw^ddan), is a very incon*
spicuous one.

There exists, however, as one of the oldest remains of Irish
Story-telling, a composition known as the Voyage of Bran,^ the son of
Febal, dealing with another hero of the same name. The versified
portions of the tale are considered by scholars to date back to
the eighth, or even the seventh century. Manann^n plays a part
in this tale, though his relationship to the hero is not defined. This
tale is generally recognized as a version of the ^videspread myth of
a mortal's visit to Elysium.

In course of time it found its medieeval representative in
the fax more famous ' Navigatio Sancti Brendani,' which has been
called one of the Contributory causes to the discovery of the Kew.
World.

A manuscript of the ' Navigatio ' is said to exist in the Vatican
Library, which dates back to the early eleventh century. The Irish
Life of St. Brandan, known as the Betha Brenainn, although existing
only in a manuscript dating from the latter half of the fifteenth
century, represents materials of far greater antiquity. It possesses
many of the features' of an older mythological tale, and one gathers
that when it was written down the Holy Brandan had but recently
taken a place in the roll of the saints. It represents its hero, though
a saint of the Christian Church, as being a son of Finn Lug (tliQ
god of Light) and own brother to Brig, a Celtic goddess not yet
identified with the Holy Bridget ; the miraculous circumstances of
Brandan's birth and baptism, even the tale of his upbringing by a
wild cow (because his foster-father, Bishop Ere, had not a milch cow,
for he received but moderate alms from the faithful), all savour of
his mythic origin.

^ The Voyage of Bran, Grimm Library, 4, 6, 1896-97, ed. Alfred Nntt

§ 6. The MimoTiary Journeys of St Brandan. zxiii

A point of interest in his subsequent histoiy is the blessing
bestowed by Biandan on the fifty Ashless rivers of Ireland, so that
they abounded in fish. He is specially connected with the river
Theyse, which is fed by the Fountain or well of St Brandan, in
Ardfaerty a very favourite place of pilgrimage.^ It is tempting to
suppose that a curious episode in the same Irish life may be a faiv
away echo of some such tale as that which survives in Welsh
Literature about the Head of Bran. One day Brandan is on a
journey ; a young man joins his company, and presently they meet
seven fighting men, enemies of his. He fears they will murder him,
but Brandan bids him lie down in the shadow of a pillow stone, hard
by, and prays God to save the young man in the appearance of the
pillow stone. His enemies come to the stone, cut off the head in the
shape of his, wound the pillow stone in the side, and carry the sup-
posed head with them. And still the stone remains. ^

The account which the Irish Life gives of the famous voyage of
St. Brandan, in search of the Land of Promise of the Saints, closely
resembles that of the Latin ' Navigatio.' The motive for the voyage
is, however, variously represented. It comes abqut either from
Brendan's desire to leave all things and seek a quiet retreat where he
may give himself up to the service of Ood, or from his zeal for souls
in reinote islands. ^

A version of the * Navigatio ' contained in the ' Codex Salmanti-
censis,' in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, enlarges upon this
latter idea, and gives a long account of St. Brendan's various
missionary journeys, after his remoter wanderings were ended,
including visits to Scotland and the Orkneys, to Wales, and to St.
Gildas in Brittany. It is curious that many treces of his name exist
on the mainland of Scotland as well as in the islands, while he is
referred to in mediaeval Calendars as the Apostle of Britain, the
Orkneys, and the Scottish Isles.

We thus find originating on Irish soil a tale about one Bran,
visitor to the Otherworld, and others about a missionary saint and
traveller who appears to be of mythic descent To identify either of
these with Bran, son of Lir, would require the equation of the Lord of
the Otherworld with the visitor to the same region, a point of some
difficulty. Turning to the early literature of Wales, the epithet
already quoted as applied to XJrien, lord of Eheged, Bran's prototype,

^ "In the Conte del Giaal, Perceval's mother goes on a pilgrimage to the
shrine of St. Brandan in Scotland." (Nntt, App. jB. p. 265.) . , . ,

xxiv § 6. CatiTieeium with the Orail Cycle. The Prologues.

" Principal Pilgrim to a distant City," may "be recalled. Going a step
farther it may now be asked if any parallelism can be found between
Bendigeid Bran of the Mabinogi, or Brons of the Grand St Graal^
and St. Brandan, who possessed on Irish soil a well-defined ** Con-
version Legend."

In the first place, what is the meaning of the epithet " Bendigeid,"
Blessed, constantly applied to Bran in Welsh Literature? A late
fourteenth century Triad gives a plausible explanation. Bran is said
to be " one of the three blissful rulers of the Island of Britain, who
first brought the Faith of Christ to the nation of the Cymry from
Eome, where he was seven years a hostage for his son Caradawc'^
This passage certainly shows confusion on one historic point. The
author has confounded Caratacus, son of Brennus, with the mythic
Caradawc, while at the same time he has made an interchange of
parents, so that Bran the ''bUssful ruler" becomes father to th&
historic Caratacus. His statements about Bran*s missionary journey
to Britain may be equally unreliable, and the passage is at best
but a very late piece of evidence.

A far more acceptable explanation of tlie epithet on general
grounds is Professor Hhys' suggestion that the Lord of the Other-
world was held to be the special protector of the Bards, and therefore
an object of blessing to them.

But, at the same time, the evidence of the Triad cannot be sum-
marily dismissed. It stands alone in Welsh Grail Literature in
connecting the idea of conversion with Brons, or Bran, as in d&
Borrou, rather than with Joseph, and with a Bran not yet numbered
with the saints, but possessing some of the attributes of the older
deity, that is to say, the father of Caradawc. Late in date as it
undoubtedly is, the argument that it originated entirely with the
Romances is not unanswerable. For no Welsh translation of the
French Romances which ascribe the conversion to Brons and his group
of companions is known, while Welsh versions of the Romances-
wfaich make Joseph the Apostle of Britain still exist. It is therefore
at least as likely that the Triad preserves the echoes of an older Welsh
tradition as that it quotes frem de Borron or the Grand St. GraaL

And if this be so, it is the one fragment of evidence we possess
for the existence, in Welsh Tales of Bran, of the same tendency
which on Irish soil reached its full development in the evolution of
Saint Brandan.

Further than this we cannot go, for in Welsh Literature the

§ 6* Feaiures of OtKerworld Stories found in G, St, Oraal, zxv

fortunes of Bran become hopelessly involved with those of Joseph of
Aiimathea. ^

To lettini to de Borron, the stoiy which lies behind his poem
represents an intermediate stage of growth between the mythic Bran
and the saintly Brandan, if for the moment we allow the identification
of the lord of Hades and the traveller to the regions of the Dead.
In support of this hypothesis there exist many traces of kinship
between the tales of Brandan and of Brons.

Two of the objects of St Brandan's joumeyings have already been
given. A* third is found in the prologue to a form of the legend of
whi6h Schroder printed a German version at Erlangen in 1871, and
the composition of which he considers may be attributed to the last
quarter of the twelfth century. Other versions of the same character
enjoyed wide popularity. Brandan is angry and incredulous at the
marvels of which he reads in rare books (or especially in a book brought
to him by an angel from heaven), and he bums the book. As a punish-
ment he is bidden by the voice of God, to journey on the ocean till he
finds whether the marvels are real or a lie (or till he has discovered
the book he has burnt), which by God's grace he is at length able to
do. Now th^ likeness between this prologue and that which prefaces
tiie Grand St Graal is very remarkable. There can be little doubt,
from its totally different style to the rest of the work, that the latter
Ynologue was taken over by the author of the Grand St. Graal, in its
existing form, from an older composition. The reference to it in the y
Ohronicle of Helinandus, which speaks of a hermit to whom a vision
of the centurion, Joseph of Arimathea, was shown by an angel,
establishes the fact that already before the year 1227 the prologue
had been used to preface the supplanter of the tale it was origin-
ally written to introduce. Of that older tale no trace remains to
us, unless, as is by no means improbable, some of its episodes
became absorbed, like so much else, into the body of the Grand
St Graal.

Turning to the text of the Prologue of the Grand St Graal,
some minor points present themselves for comment. For ^'Yal
Escone," Lovelich's still more corrupt '* Walescog," we should
probably read "Val Escos" (the King of Escos, for King of
Scotland, occurs later in the poem), and this with the mention of
Norway, leads our thoughts to the abode of the Dead as the scene
of our monk's joumeyings. Other indications of the truth of this
supposition are found in the mention of the Great Beast, a frequent

/

xxvi § 6. Ths history of Moys.

figure in Otherworld stories, whether it appears as the Hound of
Hell, or as the quarry of the infernal pack of the Head of Hades.

The contests in this region are too numerous for one to be
surprised at learning next of the Valley of the Dead, where near the
Fountain of Weeping took place a great slaughter and the battle
of the two best knights in the world. Finally, the wondrous
Fountain "whose sand is blood-red and fire-hot, and whose water
is ice-cold, and becomes green and bitter three times a day," calls
to mind the fountain of Brandan's journeyings, which had two
streams, one running clear, one troubled; or that other which
induced a sleep of one, two or three days, according to the number
of goblets of its water partaken of; or the more orthodox stream
of Maelduin's wanderings, which yielded whey or water on
Wednesday or Friday, but on feasts of Martyrs and Sundays good
milk, and on feasts of the Apostles, of Mary, and of St John
the Baptist, ale and wine.

We have mentioned the difficulty of grouping together the
various stories which in Welsh and Irish Literature centre round
the name of Bran, because such a classification requires the
identification of the Lord of the Otherworld with the Visitor to
the Otherworld. Kow that mortal visitor is generally in search of
treasures of knowledge, of which the Over^lord is the special guardian
and protector, as Bran was of the Bards who called him Blessed.
In these Prologues we seem to have an echo of the old idea. It is
the thirst for knowledge that drives Brandan forth on journeyings
that may not cease till he finds the Book of Knowledge he has
himself forfeited. In the case of the monk of the Grand St. Graal
Prologue, the book he seeks is called the Book of the Graal, that
is of the vessel of Knowledge. That is to say, in these Prologues
we find the Traveller, Brandan, is also the Seeker after treasures
particularly associated with the Lord of Hades.

Episodes are not wanting in the body of the Grand St. Graal
which link it yet more closely with stories of the Brandan type.
The episode of the Seat Perilous is found both in the Grand St.
.Graal and in de Borron. In the former work, the author has
been so much struck by it that he repeats it a second time, with un-
intelligent variations of his own, about a different person. The
hero of this episode in de Borron is one Moys, who first appears
in connection with an incident already described, the separation of
sinners from saints by means of the Grail. In the solitary MS.

§ 6. Comparison with ^Imrama' Stories. xxvii

which preserves de Borron's poem, a gap exists which rohs us of
much of Moys' history, but it can be filled in from the prose yersions.

Moys is a hypocrite, and presumptuously puts himself forward, ^
supported by his companion sinners, to sit in the empty seat, left
by Brons at the Grail Table to signify the seat of Judas at the Last
Supper. Josephes warns him in vain, and at once seven fiery hands ^
from Heaven seize and carry him off to a place far away, burning
like a dry bush. Some day his companions shall know where he is.

In the Joseph poem we hear no more of Moys ; and the author's
promise at the conclusion of that poem to tell what had become of
the long lost sinner, seems never to have been fulfilled. It is left
to the Grand St Graal to relate how, when Josephes and his
companions come to a great house in the forest of Nantes, they see
in the hall a great fire burning, from which a voice calls to them.
It is the voice of Moys, asking Josephes to pray that his pain may
be relieved through the mercy of God. Josephes prays, and a great
rain comes down into the fire and quenches half of it. Moys tells
them that his sufferings are greatly eased thereby, but the ^le shall
last till the coming of Galahad, who shall end the adventures of the
Grail, and finally release him from his pain.

The Grand St Graal also supplies the earlier history of Moys,

who is the son of one Symeu. Both father and son are sinners, and

when the rest of the Grail company find room to cross to Britain

on the back of Josephes' shirt, they sink in the water, and have to

^'be pulled ashore by those left behind.

The remarkable story of the shirt may perhaps be traceable, and
is certainly comparable, to an incident in the Mabinogi of Branwen,
where Bran, fleeing from his enemies, waded through two rivers
with the musicians of his court on his back, the Eomancer, in
his desire to go at least one step further towards the miraculous,
having stumbled upon the ridiculous. If this is the case, and the^
rest of Moys' career is, as we hope to show, comparable to incidents
which are part of all the so-called *' Imrama " stories, including the
voyages of Bran and Brandan, it is somewhat significant that we
should have in the Grand St. Graal, welded into one tale, episodes
from the lives of the Lord of the Otherworld and the Visitor to the
same region.

To turn again to the Voyage of Bran, son of Febal: he has
amongst his companions one Nechtan, son of Collbran, who, when
they reach a certain island called the Island of Women, becomes

zzviii § 6. The Seat Perilovs.

homesick for his native Ireland. All the wanderers accompany
him home, but are warned against setting foot on land. Nechtan
leaps from the coracle ; and as soon as he touches the soil of Ireland,
he becomes a heap of ashes.

In the Tmrama group of stories which are traceable to the same
root idea, the incident of the unruly or illfated companion of the
voyage is one which in some form or another continually occurs.
In the Voyage of Maelduin (which stands in dose relationship
to the * Navigatio,' and is now generally regarded as its source),
the three foster-brothers of the hero, in spite of the warning of a
wizaidf cast themselyes into the sea and swim after the vesseL
On one of the islands visited, the third foster-brother proposes to
carry off a necklace, which he finds in a marble palace, and seizea
it ; but a small cat, which has been engaged in jumping from one
to another of the stone pillars, at sight of the theft, leaps througji
the guilty man, and he becomes ashes. In the 'Navigatio' itself
the opportunities for moralizing which the episode affords are fully
realized. Three monks follow the Holy Brandan, and implore
his leave to accompany him, though he prophecies an evil end for
two of their number. They disembark at an island where is a
marble palace, surrounded by a wall of crystal. One of the monks
is tempted to theft by the precious objects hanging round the
walls, and carries off a silver bridle. Sudden death overtakes hinr,
though he is promised ultimate forgiveness.

In the Voyage of the Hui Cona, another of the Imrama group,
it is a jester who lias joined the party at last, who dies during the
voyage, when a little bird sits on the gunwale of the boat and
says, "I am your jester, ... be not mournful ... for now I
shall go to heaven." In the Irish life of Brandan, the late arrival
is a man called " Crosan " (rendered " buffoon " in some transla<-
tions). The seafarers come to an Island of Sea-cats which threaten
them with destruction, and Crosan consents to sacrifice himself,
/ leaps ashore, and dies. All these episodes have in common two
leading features — (1) the presence in the party of voyagers of one
or more tardy or unruly members, (2) an act of theft or presumption
followed by sudden destruction.

In the Grand St Graal, blurred and faint as are the outlines,
these features are still distinguishable in the account of Moys and
Symeu, unable owing to mortal sin to cross the sea with the resl^,
and of the presumption of Moys at the Grail feast bringing about

§ 6. EmlcuJi and Avalkuch, ruler of AvaUm. xxiz

his fiery end. The element of endless feasting will be found in all /^
the tales quoted. " A theft taboo," says Mr. Kutt, '< is an essential
feature in all Underworld visits; similaTly, most contain some
incident to indicate the impossibility of return." The Seat Perilous
may not improbably represent some form of taboo.^

Brons in the Grand St. Graal was bidden to draw back from the
Seat Perilous because it signified the seat quitted by the traitor
Judas, at the Last Supper. In the Brandan Legend, Judas on his
Iceberg is partially relieved from burning tortures by the intercession
of the Saint, just as the prayezs of Josephes, who has elsewhere been
found standing in the room of Brons, suffice to quench the flames
to which Moys is doomed till Judgment Day.^

But the points of contact between the Grand St Graal and the
Brandan Legend are not yet exhausted, and lead us on to a further
Iproup of characters, to which as yet no reference has been made.
This is the group which centres round Evalach, King of Sairas, and
his brother-in-law, Kasciens, personages who appear only in the
Onnd St GraaL

Two stories are told of Evalach's birth and origin, of one of
which Hucher made great use in building up his argument for
Bobert de Borron's authorship of the Grand St. Graal; it is,
however, to be classed with the episodes of Hippocras and Fowcairs
the pirate, as a late and extremely unintelligent addition to the tale,
serving no other purpose than to increase its already weary length.

^ It is a difficoll^ feature to explain satisfactorily. If we accept Professor
Bhys' cine to the whole underlying myth, it is tempting to remember that
the making of the seat is in the Quest of the Holy Qrail attribute to the
ma^c art of Merlin, the snn-god, and then to connect it with the Chair of the
Ckiddess Kerridwen. She was the coxnpoander of a magic cauldron of Wisdom,
which is one of the prototypes of the Gndl in Welsh story. Eerridwen's Chair
was none other than the rainbow. "To build on the rainbow/' says Grimm
in hia 'Teutonic Mytholoffy,' ''meant a bootless enterprise, and to sit on the
rainbow exposed to great danger, while where it touched the earth there was a
golden dish." Apart from Nature myth, both these chairs may have had some
such significance, now forgotten, as tne Bardic chair of which Taliessin sings —

"The Chair of the fortress of Teganwy
WiU I again seek."

' Apart from mythic interpretation it may be remembered that the stoiy
of the Seat Perilous in some of its features only reproduces contem^rary
manners. "The High seat in the hall was that of the King or Kaster ; it was
left empty in his absence or at his death, and could only be filled again after

death by his son, or by his elected successor any one daring in the

meantime to occupy it would have looked to be rudely expelled." (Wardle,
'C3nnmrodor,' vol. xvi. p. 187.) The same critic quotes from an llth-centuiv
poem of the Pilgrimage of Charlemagne a description of hnw the Emperor and
nis knights in the Temple at Jerusalem sat down without hesitation or rebuke
in the seats of Christ and his twelve apostles which stood in the Sanctuary.

XXX § 6. Evalach and Avcdlack^ ruUr of Avalon.

This passage is in direct contradiction to the earlier account of
Evalach's origin; ''the lord of that same city was called Evalach
the Unknown. And he was called the Unknown, because no man
in all his domain knew in what countr}' he was bom, nor whence
he had come, and he was of so great prowess, that by his knight-
hood he had conquered all the land to the entering in of Egypt,
.... and he was of so great age that he could no more bear the
weight of arms."

There can be little doubt, both from the coincidence of names,
and from the aptness of this description, that Evalach is none other
than the Welsh Avallach, ruler of Avalon, Land of Shades. He has
many castles, two of which, " Yalachiu '' (f . e. Evalach-in) and
Tarabel (in the French ** Carabel,'' a corruption of some such name'
as Caer Aval), bore his own name. The approach to Castle Yalachin,
by a gate over a river an arrow-flight broad, where scarce two chariots
could pass, is also characteristic of the entrance to the abode of the
dead.

Much of the first part of the Grand St. Graal is taken up with
an account of Evalach's wars with Tholome, King of Egypt. Greoffrey
of Monmouth tells of one Bartholomeus who warred against Spain.
Both Spain and Egypt are alike to be located in the region of the
departed, together with Orkauz or Orcanz (Orkney), one of the cities
of Evalach, while the whole expedition may be regarded as one more
version of the Harrying of Hades.

The fonn of the name '' Mordrains " given in Manessier's portion
of the Conte del Graal is'* Koodran," which Professor Bhys suggests
is a misreading of Guitnev, a form of Gwyddno, the name of the
Fisher in the Taliessin story, the father of Elphin.

The name Mordrains is represented in the Grand St. Graal as
having been given to Evalach when he was baptized by Joseph.
This may either mean that in the older tales, which the romancer was
endeavouring to adapt to the record of Joseph's missionary triumphs,
Gwyddno and Avallach were different names for the same personage,
or that they were difierent personages, whom he connected together
by this simple expedient. From what we have already learnt as to
the difficulty of distinguishing the roles of the Celtic Divinities of
the Underworld, an explanation which meets both these suppositions
/ probably comes nearest to the truth.

- What is most important for our present purpose is to notice that a
very laige part of the Grand St. Graal is taken up with the travels of

§ 6. The Twming Island. zxxi

Mordraina, or Avallach, Lord of the Underworld, an4 those connected
with, bim^from one island to another ; that some of those islands
haye features which strongly recall the islands of Bran or Brandan's^
wanderings in his thirst for the souls of men«

Chief among these is the Turning Island. In Welsh Literature, ""
one of the names for the abode of the dead is ^'Caer Sidi," which
Professor Ehys renders '' the Spinning or reyolving Castle." Some ^
such idea as this may not improbably underlie the account of the
great fish Jasconias, visited by Brandan and his companions. It has
sometimes been supposed that this feature of the story originated in
the name and shape of one of the Maghara Islands, liaunamil. Island
of the Whale, a rocky islet on that part of the west coast of Ireland
which tradition makes the home of St. Brandan and the scene of his
earliest missionary enterprise.

If the older story brought the Lord of the Under-world to visit
his dominions which were protected from intrusion by this stiange
device of spinning or revolving, and those dominions became located
in one of a certain group of islands, the idea of movement being
prominent and firmly rooted, might be explained by the fact that one
of the islands^ like a great whale, really was such an animal, and to
this the motion was due. Biandan and his companions left the
cauldron which was part of their travelling equipment, upon the
whale's back, in perfect security from year to year.

Yet another feature of the islands visited by Mordrains was the
presence of innumerable white birds; these are usually to be met
with in Otherworld stories, and, like the little bird upon the gun-
wale, in the Hui Corra, represented the souls of the Departed.

The most picturesque incident of all, one which Malory introduces
into his * Morte d' Arthur,' falls into line with the rest. If, as seems
probable, Solomon's ship stands for an island of some earlier tale,
Geoffrey of Monmouth makes Solomon to have been King of
Brittany, a r^on which from the ' Irish Life ' we know Brandan to
have visited. The Queste plaQfifi^lbfi fihip on .the shore of the sea
over against Ireland.

Enough has been said to show that the so-called Christian ^

Legendary portion of the Grail Cycle is scarcely lees composite than

the rest, and when carefully examined, is seen to be derived in the

main from the^same Celtic stock. The Joseph poem and the Grand

SC GTiaal, apart from their debt to Biblical and Apocryphal sources,

are made up of fragments belonging to one particular class of Celtic
GRAIL. ■"" ' c

xzzii § 7. Tke Bleeding Ztmce and Joeeph of Arimaihea.

atones, those which rehited the travele of the Lonl of Hades, under
his different names, to or thfoagh his Otheiworld kingdom, ** Principal
Pilgrim to a distant city." As has heen said, the rest of the Cycle
belongs to much the same mythical root ; but it is those tales which
dwell more especially upon the aspect of Bnn or Evalach as a
traveller which ia the course of time were gathered up into the
fabric of our two romances, and loimed the basis of the Convefsion
Legend. As a new set of ideas became prominent in men's minds,
those tales were developed in a particular direction, their special
charaetenstics lent themselves to adaptation of one particular kind.

Bran, son of Febal, became in Ireland Brandan, the missionary
saint : the story of Bendigeid Bran had already on Webh soil begun
to show the same tendency. The original object of his joumeyings
had been forgotten, and there was a vague uncertainty about it in the
minds of the story-tollers, and an impulse to colour it with the ideas
of Christianity. But at this critical point, while those ideas were
still but dimly ^laped, the ancient hero was thrust aside ; and into
the i^oe of Bnms and his son Alain thore stopped, at first somewhat
hesitatingly, the figures of Joseph of Barimaschie, i e. ab Arimathea,
and a son Josephes, with whom the story made it essential he should
be pnyvided. It now remains for n& to trace out in 8<Hnewhat greater
detail the reason of this change of heroes, and how in the first
instance it can have suggested itself .

§ 7. TBI BLEEDING LANCE AND JOSEPH OF ARIMATHBA.

^ T}ie Grail ^tory is found devoid of Christian symbolism oo^ in
the Mabinogi of Peredur. That woric contains no mention, at all of
the Grail vessel as such ; and it is chiefly in the incidents of the hero's
birth and boyhood that the likeness between it and Chrestien's
portion of the Conto del Graal is found. There occura, however, in
the Peredur, one important incident which is repeated by all the Grail
Romancers, almost without variation, except that, as time goes on it
becomes more and more laden with Christian symbolism. This incident
has been conveniently called *' the Procession of Talismang/'

Peredur, the prototype of Perceval in the Conto del Graal, comes
to the castle of an uncle of his.

^ While he and the undo are talking together, two youths enter the
hall;* bearing a mighty spear with three streams of blood flowing
from the point to the ground; they are followed by two maidens
bearing a salver in which is a man's head swimming in blood. This

§ 7. ' The Procession of Talismans' xxxiii

form of the story has distinclly a more archaic tinge ilian the form
which appears in Chiestieii and his successors. It has a strong
beaiing on the general moUf of the story, which, as Mr. Nntt has
shown, tarns more exclusively than does the Conte del Graal upon
reyenge for a kinsman's death, to which the hero is incited by the
ai^)earance of the Talismans.^ The wailing and lamentation of all
present seems more reasonaUe where the bleeding head is brought
in, calling as it were for revenge, than in the Conte del Graal, where
no such suggestion is attached to the emblems, and where the purpose
of their appeaianoe is indeed somewhat indefinite. Some critics have
held the Procession as it appears in the Mabinogi to have been
borrowed from the Conte del Graal. Undoubtedly the Mabinogi of
Peredur as we have it existing in the Sed Book of Heiigest, — a MS.
of the fourteenth century, — and in part, in MSS. a hundred years
earlier, represents a Welsh translation from a French original probably
itself based upon Welsh folk tales but imperfectly understood by their
adapter. But allowing to the influence of the Coate del Graal some
modification of the episode (such, for example, as a change in the
persons of those who bear the Talismans) one has to postulate a less
primitive version giving rise to a more primitive one, in order to
accept Chrestien'sOraal, "shining so that it puts out the light of the
candles, as the sun does that of the stars," as the sole prototype of
the head swimming in* blood ; especially as in the latter case the
incident oooupies a more decidedly logical position in the tale than
in the former.

Probably in both cases the incident is taken from the same
original, the Mabinogi preserving the older form, Chrestien alteiing
and adi^ting the episode in his own fashion. The Sword, it may be
noted, does not in the Mabinogi play part in the procession, though
it is brought into immediate touch with the other Talismans. For it
18 while Peredur is testing his strength by means of the sword, and
whttQ his atrival at two-thirds of his manhood has been proved, that
the lance and salver appear, as it were summoning him to a practical
test of that manhood by tlie revenge of his cousin's death.

l^ot is this Procession of Talismans wholly without a counterpart
elsewhere. In the Welsli Mabinogi of Branwen, — one of the so-called
Four Branches of Uie Mabinogion, which undoubtedly represent a
working up of materials of great antiquity, — ^we have a tale connected
with Bran which seems to throw some light upon it.

1 Natt, p. 188 et atq.

\

\

xxxiv § 7. The 'Procession' in the Mabinogi of Branwen.

Bendigeid Bran (the Blessed Bran) is wounded in the foot by a
poisoned dart by some unnamed assailant : be commands bis seven
companions in war to cut off his head and carry it with them to the
White Mount in London for burial. But they are to be long upon
the way, and as they journey, ''the head will be to you as pleasant
company as ever it was when on my body.'' Whatever joy the head
may have brought the seven comrades, grief is heavy upon those
associated with them. Branwen, who sets out with them dies
broken-hearted on the banks of the Alaw, for looking towards
Ireland and towards the Islands of the Mighty, " Alas ! " said sho,
'* woe is me that I was ever bom : two islands have been destroyed
because of me.*' The multitude of men and women they meet bring
them tidings of conquest and slaughter in their native land. The
comrades themselves go on their way forgetful of all they have
heard, remembering no sorrow whatever. This strange procession,
with its strange burden, seems to throw at least some light of sugges-
tion upon the talismanic procession as it appears in the Mabinpgion,
and still more weakened and attenuated in the other Romances. The
indifference of the comrades may be due to the fact that they have
fallen with their leader, and with him are journeying to the land of
shades, while those weep and wail who see the procession pass, but
are themselves lef t^ leaderless and without hope, to the mercy of their
enemiea

Yet another piece of evidence for the probable antiquity of this
curious feature may be found in the fact that the Tuatha de Danann,
who are in Irish tradition the leading representatives of the Celtic
Pantheon and correspond to the Welsh Children of Ddn, have as
part of their invariable equipment a sword, a spear (or Ismce) and a
magic cauldron, the very same objects which we find associated
together in the Bomances.

The^persistence of this feature, as time went on, and the manner
in which it was enlarged and drversified according to the fancy of
successive writers, seems to show that from the first it was a centre of
interest and curiosity, and apparently of speculation — for^ as has been
shown, the first hint of the inti-oduction of a Christian Legendary
element which we have, is the identification of tlte ^pear with
that which Longinus used to pierce the side of Our Lord when He
hung upon the Cross. The identification is a somewhat obvious one,
given the fact, which we may infer from the subsequent development
of the tales, that there was a desire upon the part of those writers

§ 7. Monkish Origin of the Joufph Legend. xxxv

who had edification rather than mere frivolous entertainment at
heart, to annex the whole delightful realm of tradition and romance
and turn it to account in the furtherance of moral and religious
education. And here, in the tales of Arthur and his Knights, of such
undouhted popularity, and centring round a national hero, was an
opportunity not to he lost.

The way in which, half-deliben^tely, half-unconsdouslyy it was
brought to pass, is characteristic of an age when the historic sense
was, as yet, ahsolutely undeveloped. Apart from, yet merging at
many points into, the field of popular tradition, the Church (for we
would take the prologue of the Qrand St. Graal with its tale of
^monkish authorship somewhat literally, and find support in the
evidences already referred to of the Latin originals from which the ro-
mancers in many cases seem to have worked) — ^the Church possessed
its own wealth of legendary lore. How much of this had heen in its
time horrowed, like the jeweb of Egypt, from enemies of the faitb,
the possessors were themselves prohably ignorant, and mediaeval
hagiology bears pathetic witness. But in one case, at any rate, that
now before us^ we seem to see the process at work. There can be
little doubt that the Joseph Legend did not originate with the North
^ French adapters of the Celtic tales. The legend in its later develop-
ments ooncems itself with the Conversion of England, and what is
of more significance, Joseph himself was very early known to the
Church of Britain in his legendary capacity, although there is no
reliable trace of his having been regarded as the missionary apostle of
England earlier than the Bomances themselves.

The facts of Joseph's connection with Our Lord's passion, and of

his imprisonment, which profess to supplement the Grospel narrative,

are found in the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and in some

/ briefer kindred works. There is evidence to show that this Gospel

was well known in England several centuries before any prominent

I reference to it can be found in Continental writers. It included an

{ account of Christ's Descent into Hades upon which the poet

Cynewulf based his ' Harrowing of Hell,' a poem which dates from

the first quarter of the eighth century. The first reference to it in

the literature of other lands is to be found in Gregory of Tours, but it

is not met with again in France till we come to the Grail Bomances.^

We have seen that in all probability the so-called procession of

Talismans was a feature in the tales which underlie the Conte del

* Nutt, p. 221.

I

xxxvi § 7, The Spear (jf Longinus.

Oraal and the Mabinogion. Let ns suppose, then, that the mention
of the bleeding spear suggested to some monkfeb compiler of theso
tales a possible embellishment ; the spear had an earlier histoiy, it
was that wherewith Longinus pierced the side of Christ ; or quite
possibly this, as a simple and obvious idea, may in tiie first instance
have become part of the oral tradition.^ £nt, in whatever manner,
this idea liaving come to the knowledge of our monldsh compiler, let
us suppose him to seek for further information in that Apocryphal
Gospel of Nicodemus in which mention is made of the Longinus inci-
dent. There the most prominent figure is the well-known and
favourite one of Josepli of Arimathea, ''Benefactor Dei." Could not
the connection be turned to account in his case t Supposing that in.
the description of the procession of Talismans found in the prototype
of the Mabinogion the vessel itself in which the bleeding head was
carried was a more prominent feature, our writer might well fix
upon this as the object next in importance to the spear, through
which this further connection was to be established. Given that the
vessel had to do with Joseph, as the spear with the Roman soldier,
what use could he have made of it, how come at its sad contents f
It is noteworthy that, with that simplicity which diBarms any accusa-
tion of irreverence, Gerbert, one of the two later cmitinuators of the
Conte del Graid, expressly declares that a potion with which Perceval's
enemies, slain by day, are by night restored to life, was that one
whereof Christ made use in the Sepulture.' To turn again to
Joseph, the most dramatic and mysterious episode in his history is
that of his imprisonment, on account of services rendered to the
Lord's body. While he is in prison, he sees the holy vision in a
great light, with a smell of myrrh. Now sweet odours and a bright
light are two of the features which in the Romances are found to

^ Tho Soear itself earlv became famous among the relics of Onr Lord's
Passion. Tneodosius (sixth century) describes it as still to be seen in the

Church of Golgotha, where '* it shone by night as the sun by day." Aiculf on

a curious coincidence that about the 12th century the Crusaders began to bring
from the £ast portions of the Holy Blood, that is at about the period when the
Graai Romances were taking shape. The records of earlier pilgrimages do not
call attention to this particular relic.

' Such an intermingling of ideas is not peculiar to the Graal Stories. In
the Life of S. David ('Lives of the Cambro-British Saints'), David is said to
have gone to Jerusalem with Teilo and Padam to get their consecration, and to
him was given the very tomb in which the Body of the Lord had lain. (See
Wardle, * Cymmrodor, vol. xvii. p. 47.)

§ 7. Orowing influence of Christian Sffmbolitm, xxxvii

attend the appearance of the GraU, and which may well have had
place in still earlier tales. Then again the miraculous feeding powers
of the Grail, in yet another of its aspects, were quite sufficient to
suggest to the mediseval mind the scenes of the Last Supper and
the Holy Cup. In fact, just as we have seen the Grail to have
gathered to itself, in the Bomances, the various properties of the
magic vessels of Celtic tradition, so, once the connection with
Joseph of Arimathea was fortuitously estahlished, in some such
way as we have suggested, those varying aspects were one by
one adapted to the purposes of Christian Symbolism, or connected
with the scenes and incidents of Scriptural or Apocryphal history.
How rapidly the process, once it had begun, was carried on may best
be judged from the character of the later members of the Giail Cycle
as compared with the Conte del GraaL And, indeed, when once
Joseph had appropriated Lance and Cup, what was more probable
than that the other attributes of their former possessor should also be
transferred to one already so illustrious in the annals of the Church,
and there take a more distinctly edifying shape f The Vessel of the
Grail becomes the Cup of the Sacrament, the old Lance of the gods
has pierced the side of Christ; Alain, who never wore a crown
becomes Josephes, first Bishop of all Christendom; the realm of
shadows is the heathen land of Britain ; for the unceasing search for
the treasures of wisdom we have the zeal of missionary enterprise and
the salvation of souls. But we pay a heavy price for edification.
With the entrance of Joseph on the scenes, the glamour fades away.
We pass from the high regions of Faery by a rapid descent to the
levels of the commonplace and the ridiculous. ^

■a^ llif .MSS. Mid ttW linoki whirf. nor-i cnpyiDg ot retditiuiT. •

OBIQINAL SERIES.

Latluil IliHtiifiul Tnaliui
R. ttnft Ksnhnd Klhiui

■Man sf Miriri. lUt llm
w OnpUU'i TiuU. Dnl 1:

sf du SUhbpa tt Adu Isutrut'i !
Kulti foi Oaaj.'.",
tTSfWiMMCir. Julia Wtltoii'i i:

Olf, IM, U-i.l'
V*n« tai f»i>:
A helw of (oiili
AUMMiUul-iu, !
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THE HOLY GRAIL.

[^Tke JSnffUth MS at Corpnt "having lost its beginning , one is
supplied from the version 0/ the French original in MS
BibL Reg, x^iv E 3, in the British MuseumJ]

PKOLOGUE.

The Salutation, and the Three BeasonH why the Writer has not
told his name at the beginning of the book.

^*Chil ki la hauteclie & la signonrie de si haute [•iMfs].

^ - _ _ _ ^ .^ , The writer of this

estoire eomm& est chele du graal met en sent par le high History

cwnmandement du grant maistre, Mande tout premiere- in the Trinity,

ine72t salus a tous cheus & a toutes cheles ki ont lor

creanche en la sainte glorieuse trinite, Ch'est el pore, &

el fil, & el saint esperit. El pere, par qui toutes choses Father,

sont establies & cries, et rechoiueTzt co^^imenchement de

vie. El fil, par qui tout cbil & toutes ch'^les qui en son, and

lui ont creanche, sont deliure des perdurables dolors, &

lamene a le haute ioie ki dura sains fin. £1 saint HoiyGiiost.

' As a specimen of the language of Addit MS 10,292, Plut.
CLXXxy. O, and its variations from the MS Bibl. Reg. xiv. E
in. Plut. IX. H, printed in the text, the Prologue of MS 10,292
is put in the following note. Hardly any of the subsequent
Tariations are given ; though 10,292 is much shorter than the
Boyal MS. [MS Add. 10,292 is generally called B in the notes.]

f Chil ki se tient & iuge au plus petit & au plus peceor du [fleari]
monde, Mande salus au c<>mmenchement de ceste estoire A
toe cheaux ki lor cuers ont & lor creance en la sainte trinite.
Che est el peire, ce est el fil, ce est el saint esperit. £1 p^*e par
qui toutes coses sont establies & rechoiuent {;/>mmencement de
vie. El fil par qui toutes coses sont deliureesdes paines d*infer
et ramene a la ioie qui dure sans fin. £1 saint esperit par qui
GBAAL. jt^ X

2 THE writer's three REASONS FOR NOT TELLING HIS NAKE.

esp^rit, par qui toutes les boines choseB sent mondees
Hewiu not tell hu & saintefiees. li nons de chelui qui cheste estoiremet

name at Ant,—

en escnt n'est pas nomes ne esdaines en qhest co/ti*
thoagh It win menchement. Mais par les paroles qtd chi apries seront
iSlorirorda,- dites, porra on grant masse apercheuoir & counoistre le

non de lui,- d^ sa uie, & son anchiestre. Mais en chest

commendiement ne le veut il descouiir. Et si i a trois

[• leaf 8, ooi. t] raisons par quoi : premierement, pour chou ke se *il le

1. The enriooa nomast, & il desist ke diex eust par lui descouuert si

bngged^ haute estoire com est cele du graal,. qui est estoiie de

toutes les estoires, li felon & li enuieus ne li atoumaia-
t. ma aoqaaint- Sent s uautauche. L'autre raisons est pour chou, ke

anoe might TaliM , . . . , . . .^

the Hiatory leia. ceus peust OUT SOU uon qui Is couueusty SI empnsait
mains Pestoire pour chou qt^ par si poure persone eust
este mise en escrit. Car il se tient pour la plus poure
persons & pour la plus despite ki onques fust formee.
oopfJou^uUdi "^ tierche raisons est pour chou, ke s*il eust en
be*biiim^^'*"'* Testoire aucune chose desauenant, ou par efifachement,
ou par le nice des escriuens qt/i apres le translataissent
d'un lieu en autre, tous li blasmes en fust sour son
non. Car il est ore en nos tans plus des bouches qui
dient mal ke de cheles ki bten dient. £t plus est yns

toutes coses wn\» hors mises des mains an mallgiie esperit, &
raemplies de ioie par renluminement de lui que est vrais
enlumineres & vrais cordom, Li nons de celui qui oeste estoire
escrist n'est pas noumes ne esclairies el 0<^mmenoement. Mala
par les paroles qui chi apres seront dites porres g^ant masse
ap^rceuoir del non de celui & le pais ou il fu nes & yne grant
partie de son lignage. Mais al commencement ne se yeut pas
descourir; & se 1 a .i\j. raisons por quoi. La premiere si eat
por ce que se il se noumast & deist que diex eust desoouert par
lui si haute estoire commA est cele du saint graal qui est la
plus haute estoire qui soit, Li felon & li enuieus le tomer-
oient en yielte. L*autr^ raison si est por oe que tels poroit oir
son non qui le ^iMinistroit, si enpriseroit mains Testoire por ce
que si poure pcrsone eust mis en escrit ceste estoire. L*autre
f ^ la tierce] raison si est por ce qw^ s*il eust mis son non en
Testoire & on i trouast aucune cose mesauenant ou par visse de
maluais escriuain qui apres le translatast d'un liure en autre,
tous li blasmes en fust sor son non. Car il sont ore len no tans
plus de bouches qui mal dient que bien. Et plus est vns horns

HB WILL TELL HOW HB OCT THB HISTOBT OF THE HOLT GRAIL. 3

homs blasmes de faire yn seul mal, ke il n'est loes de
faire cent bens. Pour ches .iij. choses, ne ueut ke ses Bat thoagh 1m
noBs soit de tout en tout descouuiers. Car ia soit che
ke il le Yoelle mault couurir et cheler, si sera il plus
apercbeus qu'il ne uauroit. Mais il descouuerra & dira heii ten pbdnij
tout en apart comment la baute estoire del saint graal li HUtory of tii«
fd commandee & baillie, & en quel termine, & qui li d^veredto^.
bailla.

blasmes d'un seul mal, qu^il ne seroit loes de .0. biens. Et
por che ne veut il pas qua ses nons soit del tot descouere. Car
is soit ce qu'il 8*en volsist courir, si sera il plus descouers qu'il
ne Toldroit. Mais il dim tot en apert comment Testoire del
aaiiU graal li fu commBndee a manifestier.

INTRODUCTION.

How in the year 717 a.d. in TMiite Britain, which is England,
Chriaty as a beautiful man, appears in a vision to a
Trinitj'-doubting monk, and promises to clear his doubts ;
and (p. 7) gives him a little Book ; and how in the book
there are four treatises, with these titles : ' I. Here be-
ginneth thy lineage, ii. Here begin neth the book of the
Holy Grail. III. Here begin the terrors. IV. Here begia
the marvels ' (p. 9). How a ray as of fire descends from
heaven, and great darkness comes, and then sweet odours,
and sweet voices singing hymns to God (p. 10). How
on Good Friday an Angel appears to the monk, and
takes him up to the third Heaven (p. 12), and reveals the
mystery of the Trinity to him (p. 13). How the monk locks
the Book up in a box (p. 14). How on Easter Day the
monk says his service, and then finds the Book gone. How
he has a vision, telling him to go to Norway, and there
find the Book (p. 15). How he goes after the Book, a
wonderful Beast guiding him (p. 16) ; how he is lodged by
a hermit the first night (p. 17) ; how on the second day
he comes to the Pine of Adventures and its miraculous
Fountain (p. 18), and how a lady's servant feeds him
there, and how he is lodged by a knight (p. 19) ; how oa
the third day he finds the Book in a little chapel, and cures
a devil-possesst man with it (p. 21). How food for this
man is sent miraculously (p. 22) ; how on the ninth day
the monk starts for home with the Book, and the Beast
reappears (p. 23) ; how the monk reaches home. How he
is told in a vision to copy out the Book (p. 24).

inthey«urofour H auint ap?'es la passion ihe^u crist .vij. cens <fe

Lord 717,

.xvij. ans ke ie, 11 plus pechieres des autres pecheours,

me gisoie en .j. petit habitacle endroit ichele cure ki

the writer Uee, est apielee la tierche vigile de le nuit. Ichil Ileus ou

in the third watch ° . i • i

of the night, in iou me gisoie en tel maniere, — com dieus seit, ki tous les

penses counoist, — estoit lontieus et destomes de toutea

gens. Et tant en puis iou hien dire ke il estoit en .j.

In one of the des plus sauuages lieus ki fust en toute la bloie ber-

White Briuin; taignc.^ Mais ne pour qiiant moult m'estoit deli tables

* The other MS, 10,292, says nothing about *bloie ber-
taigne/ having only after * peceors,' * estoie en .j. lieu le pl«t

THE WRITEB, WHO DOUBTS THE TRINITY, HAS A VISION. £

& plaisans. Car quant nostres sires veut ouurer en son

crestien, il T a tantost mis en tel *corage ke toutes les [*i«ftfs,«>i.s}

choses ki li siecles prise li annuient. Ichele nuis ke ie and then

. . . . . /. -I • "I . , on the night

ine gisoie en-si com yous aues oi, si fu la nuis ki est before Good

entre le ioesdi absolut & le vendredi beneoit. Et se

Tiostre signot^r plot ke il recheust en gre, le auoie fait

le seruiche des matines ke on apicle tenebres. £t lors

si me prist moult grans yolentes de dormir, si commen- he (a monk) iiu

cliai a soiiinillier en mon lit on iou m'estoie a-coutes.

Ensi com i'oi cwwmenchie a soumellier, ne demoura

puis gaires ke iou oi vne vois ki m'apiela ^ .iij. fois par

mon non, et si me dist, "esueille toi Ss si ascoute.^ a voice caiia him

and proolaiiM

De trois coses vne, & d une cose trois ; & autrestant the doctrine of

,. ' , . ,^^ , . , theTrinitjlo

puet rune cowme les trois. *jNo les trois naturelment wm.

ne sont autre cose ko vne/'^ A cliel mot m*esueillai,

81 esgardai entour moi, et ui si grant clarte ke nule si

grans ne peust issir de nule t^^Tiene lumiere. Apres ui

vn bomme ester deuant moi, si biel & si delitable ke sa chHst appears

to him.

biautes ne porroit estre contee ne descrite par lange de

nul bomme mortel. Et quant ie le vi, si ftd si esbabis

que ie ne seucb sous siel ke dire ne que faire. Et il

m'esgarda, & si me dist : '' As tu entondu ne taut ne

quant la parole ke ie t*ai dite ] " Et ie li respondi en

tranlant, " Sire, ie n'en sui mie encore hien certains."

Et il me redist, " che est la counissancbe de la trinitei

que ie t*ai raportee." Et cbe dist il pour cbou que The monk has

i'auoie este 'en doutancbe comment che pooit estre ke la the Trinity.

[•leafs, back]

sonage que ion ne voel faire connohtTe & eslong^es de toutes
crestiens. Mais itant vans puis ie bien dire que li lieus est moult
saluages, Mais mimlt estoit delitables Sc plaisans. Car home qui
est del tout en dieu 11 a a contrarie toutes les seculers coses.
Ensi e{nnme ie me gisoie en eel lieu dont vos m'aues oi
parler, si fu au ieudi absolu. Et qtmnt vint au vendredi
bdneoit, si auoie dit (se a nostve seignor plaisoit,) le seruice que
on apele tenebres.' Add. 10,292, leaf 1, col. 3.

* & il ne demora pas grantment que vne vois m^apela. — B.

' An illustration, with the rubric 'Ensi que dieus en une
nue parole a i hermite qui est deuant son autel.' — A.

=•—» Omitted in B.

/

6 CHRIST REVBALS HIMSELF TO THE WBITEB-MONK.

trinltea auoit trois persones & si n'auoit c'ane senle
deite et vne seule poisaanche. Ne onqves n'auoie en
nulle liens cose doutee de ma creanche, que seulement
en chestui point. Apr^s me dist, ''pues tu encore
counoistre ne ap^cheuoir ki ie sni 1 " £t ie dis :
He cannot ue the " gire mi oel sont mortel, si n'ont pas pooir d'esffarder

brightness above . r- r o

au briKhtnesaes. entiiement la clarte de tontes les autres claries, ne la
boiiche ne puet encore auoir la forche de dire chou dont
toutes les pekeresses langues serroient encombrees."

Christ breathea Et il s'abaissa YCTS moi, si me souffla en mi le vis. £t

uis eyes dear, lors me fu auis qr^ i'oi les iex a cent doubles plus
clers ke onq«^ mais n'auoie eus, et ke ie sentoie dedens
ma bouche vne grant mernelle de langues. £t il me
redist, " pues tu encore counoistre qui ie sui ? " Et

a flame as of fire q^^ant ie ouri la bouche pour respondre, si yi q?«6 vns

starts from his

mouth, and he is braudous me saloit hors du cors autresteus com de fu

afraid.

ardant. Si en eucb si grant paour quant ie 11 vi, qu«

onqu6s n'oi pooir de dire mot. £t quant il me Tit si

Christ comfoHa espoente, si me dist, " l^aies mie paour : car la fon-

him.

taine de toute seurte est chi deuant toi. Et bien
sachies que ie sui chi uenus pour toi aprendre & ensen-
gier de toute te doutanche. Car ie sui de toutes
doutanches ^vrais ensengieres. Ie sui chil par qui
The Qreat Master toutes Ics boines sciciises sont aprtscs. Car ie sui li

reveals hlmselft . .

grans maistres par qui tout li tenen maistre seuent
tant de bien com il ont aprts. !Ne maistre ne sont il
mie. Car maistres ne puet estre, se chil non qui seit
toutes les sciences. Ie sui chil maistres a qui nicho-
medes dist : ' Maistre, nou« sauons que vous estes venus
de dieu.' Ie sui chil de qui Tescriture dist^ 'Toute
sapiense vient de dieu nostre signeur/ & si est auoec

\ — ^ certains. Ie buI fontaine de sapience. Ie sui chil a
qui nicodemus dist, ' Maistres, noB eowoSssxyoA qui tob estes.' Ie
sui cil de qui I'eseeripture dist, ^ toute sapience yient de n«»#fre
seignor.* lou sui li parfaiB maistres. si sui yenus a toi por ce
que ie voeil que tu rechoiues enseignement de toutes les choses
dont tu as este en doutance & t'en f erai chertain. Et par toi
- sera ouuerte a tos chiaus qui I'oront oonter.*' — B (MS 10,292).

CHRIST OIVES THE MONK THE BOOK OF THE HOLT ORAIL. 7

loi & tous iours i a este deuant tous *les eages. Et ponr C* i^f s. bMk,

ehon que ie sui li parfais maistres comme chil qui sui

fontaine de toute sapiense, pour chou sui ion uenus a •■ the finmtain of

j^ » m *I1 wlcdom, And

toL Gar ie voel que tu rechoiues par moi enseignement has tbenfon

de ioutes iclieles choses dont tu seras en doutanche. «uth«monk'i

£t si te feiai certaiii & sage d'une cose dont onques nus

horn morteus ne fu certains. £t par toi sera ele des-

couuerte et esdairie a tous cliiaus qui iamais Torront

conter ne deuiser." ^ A chest mot me prist par Ie

main destre^ et si me mist dedens .j. petit liuret qui H«giTeith«

monk a litUa

n'estoit pas en nule maniere plus Ions ne plus les ke est book,

la paume d'un home. Et qt^ant ie tii^g Ie liuret, si me

dist, ** yens tu sauoir ke ie t'ai bailliet 1 " Et ie dis ke

ie Ie sauroie moult yolentiers : et il me dist, " Ch'est 11

liureft Y qu«l tu trouueras si grans meruelles que nus in which an

cuers morteus nes porroit pcnser. !Ne la de nule nens than mortal heart

ne seras en doutanche dont tu ne soies auoies * par chest **° <»»**^««

liuret. Et si i sont mi secre, ke ie meismes escris de ma

main, ke nus hom ne doit Teoir se il n'est auant

espxugies par confession ^& par ieune de trois iours en

pain & en iaue.' Et apres che les doit il en tel maniere

dire, ki les die de la lange du cuer, si ke ia chele de la

bouche n'i paraut.^ Car H n'i puent estre noume par TheeienMnti

nule langue mortel, que tout li quatre element n'en when the Book's

soient commeu, carli chieus en plouuera et fera autres epoken by mortal

signes. Li airs en tourbelera apiertement. Li terre en ****^'

crolera, et Tiaue^ en cangera sa couleur. Tout chou

auenra par la forche des paroles qui en chest liuret sont

escrites. Et si i a autre chose, que ia nus hom n'esgal>

dera souuent en chest liuret ensi eonunQ on i doit

»

regardor, qu'tl n'i conqmre les .\j. grignours ioiea qui

soient. Ch'est la ioie de Tame & la ioie du cors. Car Thejc^oftbe

body

il n'est nus hom morteus tant durem^nt *courchies, se [• lei^f s, back.

eoL81

• n'eii soies adrecies. — B. ' — * not in B.

* St en tel maniere Ie dois dire camme par langue de ener,
pi que ia chele de la bouce n*i parolt-^B. * I'aigae. — B.

8 CHRIST VAXISHBS. THE HONK FINDS THE ORAIL-BOOK IN HIS HAND.

The Joy or the

BOUL

'Hie monk heart
a voice like a
trumpet, and a
great crash.

and Mis to the
ground ;

recoTers,

and finds the
Book in his hand.

The first title in
the Book, * Here
is the beginning
of thy lineage.'

[• leaf 4]

il puet dedens veoir ententieument ensi comme veoir i
deueia^ que ia maintenant ne soit ses cuers deliures de
toutes ires et plains de toutes les ioies ke cuers morteus
puet auoir, tant sont plaisant & delitable les paroles qui
i sont. Ch'est la ioie du core. Et d'autre part il
esprendera si durement petit & petit si durement del
esperituel amour, que se il baans est as t^rrienes coses, si
sera chou pour metre & pot^r despendre en Tueure & en la
besoigne a son creatour. Ne ia par pecbie qu'il ait faii
en cbest siecle ne morra de mort soubite qui cbest liuret
ara vne fois veu ou tenu. Cb'est la ioie de Tame."
Et qwant il ot cbe dit, si cria vne vols autresi comme
vne buisine. Et qu<mi ele ot crie, si vint vns si grans
escrois de baut, ke il me fu auis que tous li firmamens
feust keus, & ke la t^rre fust fondue iusk'en abisme.
Et se clartes eut este grans deuant, lore fu graindre a
cbent doubles. Car i*en fui si esbabis ke bien en
quidai avoir pierdu la veue, & si cai a terre autresi
co7?ime pasmes. Et qt^ant vint au cbief de grant piecbe
ke la vanites du cbief me fu tresalee, si ouuri les iex.
Mais ie ne ui onqt^es as iex nule riens vivant. Ne
onques ne me soi a qnoi tenir de quan qus ie auoie veu ;
ancbois tenoie tout a songe, qi^ant ie trouuai en ma main
Ie liuret ensi com li grans maiBtres Ie mi auoit mis. A
tant me leuai moult lies & moult ioieus, et ting toutes
uoies Ie liuret entre mes .ij. mains. Et si fui si en
orisons & en proieres tant ke dieus enuoia Ie iour qui
moult durement me tardoit. Et quant li ioure fu ai
clers ke ie peucb la letre. counoistre, si commencbai a
lire ; & si trouuai el commencbement .i. title qui disoit,
* Cbi est li coTnmencbemens do ton linaige.' Et quant
ie vi cbou, si en fui moult lies. Car il n'estoit nule rien
terri'ene^ que ie tant desiraisse a oir comme la counis-
sancbe de mon linaige. Et q?^nt ie oi garde tant ke
ia estoit pn'me passee, si me fut* auis ke ie n'i auoie
' MS terrieene. ' MS fui.

THE FOUR TITLES IN THE HI8T0RT OF THE GRAIL. 9

lien leu, tant i anoit encore a lire. Car ie i ni tant de

lettre ke ie en fui tons esbaliis comment si grans plentes

de paroles pooit estre amonchelee en si petit liurct qui

n'estoit pas au mien ensient plus Ions ne plus les en

nule guise que est yne paume. Si m'en menieillai tant

que ie en mescrisse moi meisme qui le yeoie, se chil ne

le m'eust baillie qui grant plente de choscs puet metre

en petit de lieu, & ki grant lieu pu^t aemplir de peu

de choses. Ensi gardai el liuret iusques yiers tiercbe,

tant que i'oi counut grant paKie de mon lignage. Si

i ui les nons & la vie do tant preudommes, ke a paines (in which i aair

osaisse le ne deusse dire ne counoistre que le fuisse uveaofsomauy

d'aus descendus. Car quant ie veoie lor boine vie, & anSttS™.)

les grans gries k'il auoient souffiert en t^rre pour lor

creatour, si ne pooie pas penser comment ie peusse tant

amender ma vie qt^'ele fust digne d'estre amenteue

aueuc les leur. Ne il ne m'estoit pas auis que ie fuisse

hom enuiers aus, mais fainture d'omme & reproches.

£n cbe pense demourai moult longement, mais toutes

uoies retouma au liure, & commencbai a lire tant ke ie

oi leu iusk'en la fin de mon linaige. £t lors trouuai vn

title q«i disoit, * Chi commencbe li liures du saint ntie 2.

. . T « o Here begin* the

graal. Et quant le 01 leu tant que miedis fu passes, & book of the HoIj
ke il pooit estre bien pros de none, si en trouuai .i.
autre qui disoit : ' Cbi est li commencbemens des
paours.' Et quant ie oi cbe title passe, si commencbai Title s.

, . . Here Is the

a Ure, & vi tens cboses qui moult estoient peureuses & beginning or the

espoentables a ueoir. Et sacbe diex ke a si grant dou-

tancbe les veoie, Ne ia enuair ne Tosaise,' se cbil ne

le m'eust commando, par 'qui commandement toutes [•leari.coi.s]

cboses uiuans sont meues.' Et qt^znt ie oi asses veus [hs 10,292

- .„ -i •! i . -Ai • J* 'i. omitB 4th title.]

de coses merueilleuses, si trouuai le quart title qui disoit : Title 4.
' Cbi commencbent les meruelles,' Et lors commencbai marveu. "

' ne ia veoir ne les osaisse. — 6.

' p/ir qui toutes coses sont coHimandees k. gouemees. — B,
leaf 1, back, col. 3.

10 A STORM BBBAKS. YOIOES BINQ HTMNS OF PRAISE TO CHRIST.

[1 M8 ft Titf]

LIghtnlnff and
thunder ooom;

tht monk fUb to
tlMgroond.

A sweet odour
oouies.

And a sweet
•ong of praiM

[•lMif4,coI. 8]

(Hononr and
glory and power
and dominion
be for erer to
the destroyer of

numltdurement a penser. ensi com ie pensoie achestecose,
yhs^ lais autresteus comme de fa ardant descend! de
nera le chiel & Tint ttes par deuant mes iex autresi
bruians comme foudres. Et mozdt durement sambloit es-
para de tonnoire, f on tant que la claries endura plus, & fu
graindres & plus espoentables. et si descendi par deuant
moi si soudainement ke tout li oel m'estincbeleient en
la teste, che me fu a-uis que ie eusse la ceruele espandue,
si que ie kai a t<;rre tous pasmes. Mais ne me dura
gaires li estouidissemens. ancbois me tresala si commQ
no^fre signour plot. £t lors redrecbai la tieste, si ouuri
les iex, & id ke tous li fiimamens noircissoit, & ke li
solaua pierdoit de tout en tout sa darte si ke il faisoit
autresi grans tenebres com il sent faire es espesses nuis
d*iuer. Et quant cbes tenebres orent dure tant ke on
peust hien auoir ale cbent pas, si plot a dieu que eles
trespasserent. & lors commencba a esclarcbir petit &
petit, si ke li solans reuint tous en sa propre clarte. Et
maintenant descendi el lieu ou iou estoie, yno odours si
doucbe & si soues ke se toutes les espices qui sont
ou monde Mssent encontre, eles ne rendissent pas la
milisme pars de doucbour ne de souautume, si com ie
quit. Apries oi entour moi .j. si doucb cbant & vne
si grant loenge, ke tout li estrument & toutes les
melodies que on porroit oir en terre serroient fins niens
a escouter, enuers cbelui cbant ke ie oi. Car tant i
auoit yoIb que nule riens morteus au mien quidier n'en
porroit le nombre dire. Et si estoient au *mien ensiant
si pries de moi ke se che fuissent coses veables ie les
peusse atoucbier a ma main. Mais onques tant esgarder
n'i soi que onquea .j. de tous cbieus qui cantoient
peusse yeoir. Et tant entendi ge b/en qu'tl looient en
lor cbant nostie seignour. & si disuient tous iours en la
fin de lor cancbon : " Hounours & gloire & poestes &
empires soit par-durablement au destruseour de la mort
& au restoreour de la vie pardurable." Icheste loenge

THE writer's vision. HIS GOOD-FRIDAT WORK. 11

entendoie ie bten. Mais de tout Fautre chant ne pooie dMtb and th*

ie pas entendre que il voloit dire ; mais sour tontes riens «toniai uft):

estoit dous & plaisans a oir. Et quant il auoient choa aadtoimdaMof

chante, si sounoient en haat yne grant menielle, ne sai

de ques estrumens, qui resambloient escheletes^ au '

Bouner. Et quant eles laissoient a soner, si recommen-

choient a canter les uois. En cheste maniere canterent

hiea iusk' a .yij. fois. Et quant vint a la sietisme^ fois,

si rompirent lor chant si soudainement qu'tl me fa auis

que 0. fuissent tout keu en abisme. Et lors me sam-

bloit que tontes les eles des oisiaus ki sont en Tair s'en- andaoondaMof

nolaissent par deuant moL Et maintenant que les vois

laissierent a canter, si remest la grans odours ke i'auoie

si longement sentue, qui si durement m'auoit pleu que

iamais a nul iour ne quesise estre en autre maniere que

ie estoie maiB c'au plaisier nostre signeur fust. Ensi

remes,* si commenchai moult durement a penser a cheste The «nd oTUm

merueille que ie auoie oie. Et lors vint yne vols d'en

haut ki me dist : " Laisse a penser, si lieue sus, & si ua

lendre a dieu che que tu li dois. Car bten est huimais

tans & eure." A chest mot me leuai ; si gardai entour on Good Fridaj

moi, & Ti que la estoit nonne passe. £t quant le yi monk riae«.

che, si m'esm^ruellai trop du iour qui si tost s'en estoit

ales. Car ie quidoie qu'il fust encore ma*tins, tant C*ieaf4,twck]

durement m'auoit pleu li lires du liuret.-^ Et quant ie

foi leues, si le mis en tel lieu ke il fu tons iours deuant

mes iez. Apres cantai mes eures ensi com eles sont^ a HesingiUi

hours

dire a chel iour. Et quant ie les oi dites, si com-

menchai le seruiche si douch & si piteus comme de la »ndb«giiifltiM

Btcnunsnt.

ijiort ihe^u crist. Car a chel iour fu 11 uraiement mors.
Et pour chou ne sacrefi on mie son cors a chel iour.
Car la ou la uerites yient avant^ la figure doit estre

' MS 10,292, vnes ohaxnpeneles.

* witisme, MS 10,292 (or B).

' remest 11 ohanters, 10,292, leaf 8, ool. 1.

* matin, per oe que iou auoie esgardet el liuret qui tant me
plaisoit.— B. ' MS font.

12 THE WRITEB-MONK IS RAISED IN SPIRIT TO THE THIRD HEAVEN.

ariere mise.^ Mais a tons les autres iours le sacrefie on,*
en senefianche ke il fu sacrefies pour nous. £t a cbel
iour ke il fu vraiement eacrefies, cli*est li venredis
beneois, ne le sacrefi on pas,^ car il n^i a mais point de
senefianche, puis ke li iours est venus qiie il fu vraie-
laeni sacrefies. £t quant ie oich fait le seruiche a Faie^
de dieu, Iusq?/€s la ou li prestres fait les .iij. parties del
sacrement, & ie vauch recheuoir mon sauueour, si vint
An angel oomw vus angeles deuant moi, qui me p?*zst par andeus nies

to him and

raiMMhimin mains, & me dist, " Ches .iij. parties te sont deuees a

aplrlt to the third . . , ,..,.,

heaven (hia body recheuoir deuant ke le t ai demoustre apiertement powr
quoi tu les as faites d'une seule cose, Ss ke ie t'arai de
toutes tes doutanccs chertifijet." A chest mot me leua
en haut, non mie en cors, mais en esperit. £t si
m*enporta el plus delitahle Heu ke onq?ies how eust ueu
a mon ensient. Car nus cuers ne porroit tant penser de
ioie, ne langue n'ew porroit tant dire, ne oreille escouter,
ke la n'e?i eust encore cent mil tans. £t se ie disoie ke
che fust el tierch chiel, la ou Bains paus fu portes par
le Baint espe7it : espoir ie diroie uoir. Mais tost seroit

where aecreta tenu a uantanche & a mcnchoingne. £t ne pour q?/ant

him. tant en dirai ge, ke la me furent moustre & dcscouuert

li secre dont aains paus dist que nule langue d'o77ime

[•leaf 4, back, mortel ne doit descouurir. Et qiiant i'oi longe'ment
esgarde les mcruelles dont ie veoie tant qiie nule bouche
ne porroit conter, si m'apiela li angeles, & me dist :
"As tu chi grans merueilles veues 1 " £t ie respondi,
ke ie ne pensoie mie ke nules si grans peussent estre.
£t il me dist que il me mousterroit gringnours encoi-e.

The angel takea LoTS me prist, & si me mena en vn autre estage qui

him to another

Btage. estoit a chent doubles plus clers que voirres. £t pre-

cieusement estoit couloures, si qiie nus hom certaine-
m.ent ne deuisost la coulour, tant par estoit soutieus &

* & por ce nel sacre on mie. Car la figure doit estre
ariere mise dusques a1 diemence. — B.

' Mais on le sacra tons les autres ior8.^B.

' ne le sacre on pas.— B, * a Taide. — B.

THE MONK SEES THE THREE PERSONS OF THE TRINITT. 13

esbaissans. Illuec me moustra apiertement la forcbe de

la trinite. Car ie i ui deuiseement le pere & le fil & le He mm tiM

saint esperity si que ie peuch counoiBtre Tune persone and Holy ohmt

et Tautre. Et si vi tout ap^rtement comment ches .iij.

persones repairoient apertement a vne sostancbe & yne

deitei & a vne poissanche. Et ne por quant se i'ai dit

qtitf i'aie veu les .iij. persones et deuisees Tune de Tautre^

la pemr chou ne m'encourent sus li enuieus & li felon :

qui ne sement fors que des autres reprendre & remordie.

Ne pour cbou ne dient il mie que i'aie parle cemtre And this la not

■d^lnat St John's

Tauctorite saint iehan le bant euwangeliste. Car il dist uying, That no

^ m . , man can Me the

que nus bom ne vit onqt/es le pere, ne yeoir ne le puet. Father;
Et ie m'acort bien a luL I^e tout cbil qui Font oi ne
seuent pas ke il i entendi. Car il vaut dire des bomes
morteus. Car tant com li ame est el cors, tant est il
morteuSy ne il ne muert en I'omme ke la cbars. Mais
puis qtie li bom est desuestus du cors, puis est il
espmtueus. Et des-ke il est espe?itueus, bien puet
esperitel cose veoir. Par cbe poes counoistre ke li for that mean*

'' mortal man, and

sains lebans vaut dire des bommes morteus^ ke nus ne not apirituai.
pooit yeoir la maieste del pere. Endementiers ke ie
estoie ententieus & curieus de remirer cbele grant
meruelle, si souna autresi com vns escrois de tounoire, a oiap of thunder

la heard.

& si trambla, cbe me fu auis, trestous li nrmamens.

Et main tenant uint illuq7^s tant de 'celestiens virtus [•leaf 4, back,

cd. 8J

ke li nombres n'en porroit estre sens ne dis. Et quant

ie me regardai, si se laiBsicrent tout cbaoir souin tout

enuiron la maiestei ausi com s'il fuissent cbeu de pami-

sons. Et q?/ant ie vi cbou, si fui trop durement esbabis

& peureus. Et li angeles me prist, Ss si me remena la The angei takes

ou il m'auoit pris premierement. Mais ancbois ke il

remesist en mon cors Tesperit, me dist : " As tu veu

gra/is merueilles 1 " Et ie dis ke eles estoient si grans ke

ki aroit congiet del dire as gens terrijens, II n'est nus

bom si sains ne si bien de dieu qui pas en fust creus.

Et ensourketout nus cuers morteus ne porroit auoir la

14

THE WRITBR'S SPUUT IS PUT BACK INTO HIB BODT.

hatfB thai h**a
oonTinoed About
tiM Trinity,

•nd then irata
hla spirit tMck
Into his bo4j.

Ths monk ondt
Us serrlce, and
pats ths Book
into s boi, nnd
looks it up.

C*lMif5]

OnBsstsrdsy,
nftsr senrios,

P f >br ooarni]

forche del retenir ne lange del dire. £t il me redist :
"£s tu encore hien certains de che dont tu as tant
doute V* Et ie li dis ke il n'estoit el siecle nus horn si
mescieans, se il me voloit deboinairenient escouter, ke
ie ne li fesisse apiertement entendre les poins de la
trinite, par che ke ie en auoie yea & aprins. El il me
dist lors : ^* Or te mettrai dont la on ie te pris. Et
lors si recheuras ton sauueonr plu« certainement ke tu
ne fesis deuant. Car tu ne dois pas herbergier oste ke
tu ne counoisses. Et se tu as yeues grans merueiUes,
tu en trouueras el liuret de teles ke tu ne tenras mie a
menouis. Mais tu n'i garderas, mais deuant ke tu aras
celebree la surrection ihe^u crist." A tant reimst mon
espeiit dedens Ie cors. Et ie m'esperi autresi com clul
ki a dormi qui s'esueille, si quidai Tangele yeoir, mais
il s'en estoit ia ales. Et ie esgardai, si ui mon sauueour
deuant moi, tout en tel maniere cam il i estdit qiumt li
angeles m'enporta. Et ie Ie pris, si Ie rechui, & ysai
a boine creanche & a grant deuotion. Et qt^ant li
seruiches fu fenis, si pris Ie liuret^ & si Tostoiai en yne
petite casse ou la boiste estoit en lequele corpus domtni
reposoit. Et quant ie Toi mis dedens, si firema la casse
moult b?'^ a une clef, Car ie me yoloie ^u perdre
garden *Ne ie ne Ie sauoie ou metre plus honestement^
Car moult i auoit biel lieu & net. Et quant ie issi de la
capiele, si yi ke il estoit ia si basse eure qu'tl anuitoit.
Et lors entrai en ma maisonnete, & mangai tel yiande
ke no^fres sires m'auoit pr^stee. Ensi passai cbeli iour
& Tendemain, tant ke uint au iour de la surrection au
sauueur. Et quant il li plot ke ie oi fait Ie seruiche
del iour qui si est baus com de nostie sauueour, cbelui
meisme qui Ie iour saintefia, entrai a garaiit que ie couuri^
ancbois au liure pour les saintes pa9*oles yeoir que ie ne
fesisse a la yiande prendre. Tant estoient douches &
plaisans a oir, ke eles me faisoient oublier la fin du cors.
Et quant ie ying a la casse ou ie Tauoie xms^ & ie Ie

r

THE BOOK OF THB HOLY GBAIL HAfi VANIBHT. 15

deafiemai, si n'en troauai point. Et qucmt ie vi che, he oniocks hia

. • box And finds th#

si foi si dolans ke le ne sauoie prendre nul cofiToi de Book gone.

moi 'y Anchois qoidoie hien que ie ne fuisse iamais lies

a nul iour. si commenchai a penser comment il pooit

estre ietes hors de ckel lieu ; Car ie Tauoie troue fenne

en tel maniere com ie Tauoie laissie. Endementieres

que ie pensoie a cheste cose, si oi vne vois qui me dist :

"Pour quoi es tu esbahis, & de quoi te meruelles tul AToioetoiithim

j/esmerueUes tu de cue qu£ li liures est letes hors de Book again whoa

bo hM raffeiod

son lieu sans desfremer) Tout en tel maniere issi ibrit.
ihesns cris du sepulcre sans la pierre remuer. Mais or
te conforte, & si va mangier; ke ancbois te couenra paine
souffirir ke tu le tienes mais." Et quant ie oi ke ie
encore le porroie auoir par paine soui&ir, si m'en ting
a bten paies. Lors alai mangier. Et qt/ant ie oi
mangie, si m'en retoumai en la capiele, & priai nostre
Bigaotir ke il par sa pitie me dounast auoiement de che
^qtte ie tant desiroie. Et maintenant reuint vne vois qtd
me dist : " Che te mande li grans maistres : quani tu He is to go on «
aras le matin celebreie la messe, si te desiuneras, & si
t'en iras maintenant en sa besoi*gne la ou ie te dirai. c*iear6»co;.2]
Et qiumt tu seras issus de chaiens, ^si enterras el sentier
qui va au grant cbemin. Ichil cbemins te menra tant ke
tu yenras au pierron de la prise. Et lors lairas le cbe-
min, si enterras en .j. sentier a diestre qui maine au
quarrefour de vij. voies es plains de walescojr.^ Et to tbe plains of

. Waleecog, (P)

quant tu yenras a la fontaine del plour, illuec ou la
grans occisions fu iadis, Si trouueras yne beste c^onqucB
tele ne ueis.^ Et si garde ke tu le sieues la u ele te
menra. Et quant tu Taras perdue, si enterras en la andibnova

wonderfyal beast

terre de norwegbe ; & illuec acbieueras de ta queste. ' to Norway, and

there flw<i the

A tant laissa la yois a parler. Et quant yint a Tende- Book,
main, Ie me leiiai matin. & quant ie oi la messe cantee,

— ' k, t'en iras tot .1. sentier qui te menra al quarefor des
.Tij. Qoies el plain de ual esoone. Add. 10,292, li 2, bk, ool. 1.

* que onqu^ mais ne via autre tele. — B.

* perdue en la t^ rre de n^^e, illuec acheuiras ton oirre. — B.

16 THE writer's search FOR THE GRAIL-BOOK, LED BT A BEAST.

si me desiunai. £t quant ie fui issus hors, si fis le

signe de le crois sour moi et sour mon liabitacle; A

He •tarti on hi« tant in*en alai ensi com la uois m'auoit noumee la uoie.

Journey,

£t quant i'oi passe le pierron, si alai tant com ie ring
oomee to the Yale en .1. val ke on apicle le val des mois. Chelui ual

of the Dead, . . ^

deuoie ie hien sauoir : car ie i auoie veu iadis yne
bataille des \j. milleurs chmalers du monde. ^ Et quant
ie fui issus du ual, si alai hien encontre demie lieue
galeske,* tant que ie ving de-sous le quarrefour.^ Si
and then the esgardai auant mi, si yi vne crois sour la nue de la

Benst, with

•heep'a head and fontaine, & desous chele crois se gisoit la beste ke la
dog's leg*. black; uois m'auoit dit. £t mai7itenaut ke ele me vit, si se

wolfs body and i • <■ jp'i'-kr* j.

lion's tail IQVL&, SI me commeucha a regarder, & le li. Mais quant

plus le regardoie et mains pooie sauoir quele beste
c'estoit. £t si sachies k'ele estoit diue7*se en toutes
coses. Car ele auoit teste & col de brebis, & blanc
comme noif negie.^ £t si auoit pies de chien, & gam-
bes, & quisses, & tout chou estoit noir comme carbon.
Et si auoit le pis & le cors & la crupe de woupil, & la
keue de lyon. Et si estoit la beste de diuerses sem-
[•ieaf6,ooLs] blanches. Et quant ie Toi moult esgardee, *et ele moi,
si leuai ma main & li fis signe qu'ele alast auant. Et
ele s'en ala tout droit el quarrefour, si s'en entra en la

The monk foUowi p^'gmiere Yoie k'ele coisi a destre. Et ie alai apres si

the Beast.

tost coTnme ie poi, mais che fu lentement ; Car uiellecbe
& flebetes me destourboient. Et qi^nt nous eumes ale
iuske a eure de uespres, si iBsi la beste hors du chemin,
et entra en vne moult espesse cai^rroie. Et tant ala
At even he comes auant, & ie apres, qu'il cofnmencha a anuitier. Et lors

to a thick-wooded _

vale, issimes hors de la caurroie, & entrames en yne profonde

■

yalee plaine de moult haute forest espesse. £t qttant

ie fui el fons de la valee, si vi deuant moi vne loge, &

and sees an old dcuaut Tuis estoit vus vies hom uestus de reube de

monk,

' — ' Lore alai tant que iou ving al quarrefor. — B. • Welsh.
' Car ele estoit blanohe comme noif, & auoit teste & col de
berbis. — B,

HB SUPS WITH A MONK. HIS B£AST-<}niDE LEADS HIM ON. 17

releigion. Et quant ie le vi^ si en fui moult lies : &

rendi grasces a nostiQ signonr de che qu'il m'auoit com-

paignie dounee. Et tantost com il me vit, si osta son who uOa Ua

caperon, & me cnai as pies, si me requeroit beneichon.

Et ie li priai qu'il se leuast, car i'estoie vns horn

pechieres, si ne deuoie pas beneichon doner, ke yous

diroi ie] Onqu^ tant ne li soi prier k'il se yausist

leuer, deuant que ie li oi beneichon dounee, dont moult

durement me pesa. Car diex le seit ({tie ie A'en fuisse

mie dignes. Et qt^ant il fut^ leues, si me mena par la andt^kw Wm

_ Into hli dwelling.

main en sa loge. Et quant nous eumes cantees toutes

nos cures, si mangames tele viande com diex auoit au Th«j rap and

saint homme preste. Et quant nous eumes soupe, si

m'enquist moult li hoins hom de mon estre, & de ma

uoie. Et ie Ten respondi au mieus ke ie soi, Tant,

diex le seit, ke il quids asses plus hien en moi qu^il nl

auoit Car il est coustume des boins houmes ke il ne

seuent quidier es autres gens se hien non, Pour che ke

il lor est auis que cascuns ait lor volente & lor talent.

Moult me fist grant ioie & grant compaignie la nuit. Ke

onqtt^s en ma vie ne vi homme qui grignour samblant

eust d'estre 'durement preudom & boins hom. Sans [•leaf 5, bock]

che que il n'en moustroit le samblant : se au mains non

ke il pooii Au matin me pria li sains hom ke ie can- Theaecondday

.... of the journey.

taisse. Et quant nous eumes cantei, si pns congie.
Et il dist que il me conuoieroit. Et qi^nt nous fumes
hors du postis, si vi la beste qui me conduisoit : & si The Beast

reappears.

ne I'auoie mais veue des la nuit quant ie trouuai le boin

homme. Ensi me eonuoia li boins hom iusc'au chemin.

'Etlors departimes, si me pria moalt qu'il me membrast'

de lui en mes orisons & en mes bt^ns-fais, que diex en

cheste religion li dounast demourer iusc'a la fin.

Ichest don otriaumes li vns a Tautre.^ A tant nous

' MS fu. ' that it would bethink me.

• — • * &, au departir, me pria il que ie priasse por li ; & iou
li otriai, si li priai qu*il priast por moi. k, il me dlat que si
• feroit n.*— B., leaf 2, back, col. 2, 3.
GBAAL. 2

18 THE PINE OP ADVENTURES, AND THE WONDROUS POUNTAIN.

At midday the
monk gets to the
Pine of Ad-
'ventures and a
Wondroas Fount-
ain, wlioM sand
ia blood-red
and fire-hot, and
wliose water ia
ice-cold, and
becomes green
and bitter three
times a-day.

A serrant on
horseback
comes to him,
and brings him
food.

[•leaf 5, hack,
col. 2]

He Roes on his
journey.

entrcbaisames, si le co77zmandai a dieu, & il moL Si
errames eiitre moi & la beste toute la [majtinee tres par
mi la forest c*oiiqiies n'encontrames ne homme ne feme,
Tant qu'il fu hien miedi«. Lors si entrames en une
moult biele lande. En mi chele lande anoit .L pin qui
auoit non li pins des aueTztures. Desous chel pin auoit
yne fontaine la plus biele ke nus peust onques veoir, au
mien quidier. Et si auoit yne coustume que onqites
autre fontaine n'ot dont i'oisse parler. Car la grauele
estoit y^^Tnelle commQ sans, & caude comme fus. Et Tiaue
estoit autresi froide comme glache. ' Et si estoit autresi
y<?rde comme esmeraude .iy. fois le iour, & ausi amere
r<97?ime la mers tant comme la yerdeurs duroit.* Qt^nt
la beste yint au pin, si se coucha desous, & fist sam-
blant de reposer. Et quant ie me yoil asseoir, si yi
venir par mi la lande .i. yallet^ sour .i. cheyal tout suant,
& si yenoit tout droit a moi. Et quant 11 fu yenus a
la fontaine, si descendi du cheual, & traist de son col
yne touaile, & s*agenoilla deuant moi, & si me dist:
'* Sire, ma dame yous salue : chele qui li chtt^a/efs au
chercle d*or rescoust de sa tene perdre, le iour ke la
grans merueille fu yeue de cbelui qitie yous saues. Et
*si yous envoie a mangier itel yiande com ele a." Lors
desuolepa la touaile, si en traist oes & .i. 'wastel mout
blanc, tout caut. Et si traist auant .i. bareil plain de
ceruoise, & .i. petit banap.' Et ie mangai yolentiers,
car i'estoie tons familleus pour la yoie qui m'auoit
greue. Et quant i'oie mengie & but, si quelli le
remenant, & dis au yallet qu'il en rendist a sa dame lea
merchis : & diex Ten rendist le guerdo?*. A tant s*en
ala li yalles, & ie m'en alai mon cbemin entre moi & la
beste. Et alamos toute iour, tant qw'il commencha a

» — > ic cangoit sa color .iij. foia le ior. Car ele deuenoit
uerde, & estoit amere eamms la grande mer. 10,292, leaf 2,
back, col. 3. ' .j. uarlet

3 — » gastel mult bel et molt boin. et il me bailla plain pot
do ceruoise. MS 10,292.

ON THE THIBD DAT THE WHITER REACHES THE QUEEN'S LAKE. 19

anespnr que onquea uissimes hors de bos ; Tant que mms At •?•& be ttopt

nenimes a .L quarrefoui ou il auoit vne crois de fust

£t lors s'arestut la beste, si commenchai a escouter. Et

ie oi maintenant venir cheaaus moult grant aleure,

Tant qu£ ie vi yn chiualer^ venir sour vn palefroi & .\j. and « knight

. comes to him,

aatres aaoec Im. Et tantost com il me vit en reube de
lelegion, si sailli ins de son cheua], & li antres apre^.
Si me dist ke hien fuisse iou yenus. Quant ie oi rendn
au chtualer son sain, si mo prist par Ie main, & dist
qu'il me menroit en sa nudson pour herbergier. Et ie
li dis que diex li guerredounaist. Et il apiela tout
maintenant son escuier, si commanda qn'il en-menast les
cbeuaus & que H fesist Ie plus biel ostel ke il porroit.
li escuiers s'en touma, & li autres remest auoec nous,
qui estoit fiex au signeur Ss chiualera,'^ Ensi nous en end fakes him

. . . • . home, end treete

alames tout troi, si ne vi onqt^^s gngnour hounour a Umnobiy.

borne faire que il me fist, & il & sa maisnie que il auoit

moult biele. Mais d'une cbose me meschai plus qu« ie

ne yansisse, que H me counu^ a .i. saing ke ie auoie sour

moi, & dist qu'il m'auoit autre fois yeu, & nouma en

quel lieu. Mais comment qu'il m'en-quesist, ie ne li

counui onqu^ riens. Et quant il vit qu'il ne me plaisoit

mie cbe qu'il m'en-queroit, Si laissa la cbose ester.

Mais *toutes les ioies & toutes les bounours ke on [•leefs.beck,

coL8]

porroit faire a cors d'omme, me fist il la nuit. Au
matin m'en parti, si les commandai tons a dieu. Et
quant ie ying bors de la porte, si retrouai la bieste. Et The third de/e

. - Journey.

quant li sires m'eut yne piecbe ccmuoie. Si li priai qu'il
s'en retoumast. A tant me comm&nda a dieu, & ie lui.
si nous en alames toute la forest entre moi & la beste,
tant ke £1 fu pres de tiercbe. Et lors si retomames yne
Toie qui menoit bors de la forest, & tant que ie yi .i.
moult biel moustier & moult ricbe berbergage selonc yne
grant praierie qui estoit sour yne riuiere. Cbil mous- He comes lo the
tiers estoit sour .L lac qui a a non li las a la roine.
» MS chrr. • MS chrls'.

20 THE WRITER 18 TOLD THAT HE SHALL ACHIEVE HIS QUEST.

■nd a Convent
of Nuns,

who feed him.

He goes on

and find* %
leller:

* At night thoa
•halt achieve
thjrqoeet.'

[•leaf 61

See« a little
chapeL

At Its entrance
he Anda a man
poeseaet with
adeviL

Qt^nt ie ving au moustier, si trouuai .i. couuent de
nounains, moult boines dames, qui cantoient Teure de
tierche moult biel & mout hautement. Et quant eles
sorent que i'estoie p7*estres, si me requisent de canter.
Et ie cautai. Et quant nous eumes fait le semiche, si
me fisent les dames desiuner. Apres me p77erent moult
que ie remansise iusc'a Tendemain, & ie dis qu'il ne
porroit estre. Lors piis congie as dames, si m'en
partL^ Si m'eTi alai, & la beste auant moi, tant que nous
rentrames en la forest. Et quant nous fumes ens, si
errames au lone du iour c'onqfi^s n'encontrames riens
terriene. Et quant il commencha a auesprir, si gardai
hors de la voie sour vne pierre plate, si vi vnes lettres
ploies. Ie toumai chele paH, si les pris. Et quant ie
les oi desploies, si trouuai el commenchement escrit :
' Che te mande 11 grans maistres : ke a nuit achieuras
de ta queste.' Et ie regardai ke la bieste faisoit, si
n*e7i vi point, anchois s'en fa ia alee. Et quant ie vi
che, si regardai es lettres, si i ui ke eles m'ensignoient
de quankes ie auoie a faire. A tant m'en tournai toute
ma uoie, & quant ie oi grant pieche ale, si trouai *vn
sentier hien batu qui aloit a destre parmi la plus biele
forest que ie onqtees eusse ueu, au mien qutdier. Et
quant ie oi grant pieche ale par chel sentier, si comr
mencha la fores a esclairier. Et ie resgardai, si ui en
•i tiertre sour vne roche vne moult biele capele petite,
b?en encontre demi-lieue loing. Et q?iant ie com-
menchai a aprochier, si oi chcle part .i. cri si hideus que
^our noient demanderoit on plus hideus ne plus espoen-
table. Mais ie ne m'on espoentai onquas, Car les lettres
m'en auoient bten acointie. Et quant ie ving deuant
la capiele, si vi Tuis ouuert. Et en Tentree del huis
gisoit vns hom tous pasmes autresi com se il fust mors.
Et quant ie le vi, si courui a grant fianche de dieu qui
m'auoit ensengiet ke ie deuoie faire. Si trouai qu'il
auoit tous les iex toumes en la. teste, si seu bien ke il

THE WRITER FINDS THE QRAIL-BOOK. 21

auoit le dyable ou cots. Si li fis le eigne de la crois en
mi le yis. Et il se drecha en seant, si commeiich&
meTiicllea a dire. Et ie coniurai le dyable de par ihe^
ciist ke il s'en issist. Et il me respondi qu€ par ihe^u
exist i estoit il entres, Ss "par lui s'en istroit. Et ie dis
qu'il ml auoit enuoie pour lui metre hors. Et il dist
qu*il ne veoit pas encoie le message par qui il s'en issist.
Et ie soi hien qw'il disoit voir, si m'en entrai en la
capiele, & trouuai sour Tautel le liuret que ie qzieroie. ontheaiuru

Til A Yt/w^k

Lors si m'agenoullai, & le pns. Et ie ving hors, a tout
si n'oistes onqz^es rien si crier com li anenus crioit. Et
disoit '' ne vien plus auant ; bien voi ke issir me con- Th« derii rays

J. TtT •! » • X i» "1 i* • f Th« Book will

ment. ^Ne il na nen en t^rre fors cnesti qui men fon»himout»
ietaist." Et qwant il s'en vaut issir par la bouche, si ^ oomrouuiiH
ne paut -pour le signe de la crois ke ie i auoie fait. Et Jbe^^i^^^nth.
il recommencha a dire en criant : " Se tu ueus ke ie ^* ^*****^»

however,

m'en isse, si me destoupe la voie." Et ie li demandai,

cormnent, Et il dist qu'il n'en istroit mie tant com li

liures serroit si pries. Et ie dis 'qw'il n'en istroit mie [•ieftf6,coi.2]

par la bouche anchois com uenroit, qu*iL s'en issist par

desous. Et qtiant il oi chou, si commencha si hideuse-

ment a crier ke il me fu auis que on le deust oir par

tout le pais. Et tantost vint illuec vne si grans com-

paignie de dyables que ie ne quidai mie qu*en tout le

mont en eust tant. Et quant il virent les paroles du

liuret que ie tenoie ouuert, Si ne veistes onquea nul after Touting «

troop of other

estourbillon si tost ne si hideusement aler com il s'en devils,

alerent. Et ie me trais pres del foursene, si 11 mis le

liure deuant la bouche, & tantost s'en issi li dyables par drfree tw« devii

. -I •■• • out of the man

desous. Si s'en ala faisant si grant tempeste ke il estoit downwards.

auis que il esrachast tous les bos par la ou il aloit. Et

lors remest li hom tous autresi commQ mors. Et ie le

pris entre mes bras, si le portai a I'aie de dieu deuant The monk

*^ . » x- watches by the

Tautel, si le gardai toute nuit illuec iusc'au iour. Et man aii night.
quant il fu aioume, si ving deuant lui & deraandai se il
mengeroit. Et il me demanda qui iou estoie. Et ic dis

22 OF THE HAN CURED OF THE BEYILw THE WRITER GOES HOME.

The:

man la r hermit,

and will pot I

C*leaf6»ool.8]

Th« monk baa a
Tision, showing
him where to
get nruit for the
hermit:

he get* it,

and feeds the
heimit,

and starts home
on the ninth day.

ke n'eufit pas paour : car i'estoie venns pour son preu.^
£t il dist qu'il mangeroit tel viande com il auoit acous-
tamee. Et il iura sacrefiancke qu'il auoit xxxiij. ans
& demi ke il estoit hermites, & si auoit passe ix. ans &
.iij. mois & demi k'il n'auoit manglet se herbes non &
fruit & rachines. ^e iamais pour tant qu'il auoit a
uiure ne gousteroit d'autre viande se diex proprement
ne U envoioit. A tant le laissai gisant tout vain comma
chelui qui n'auoit mangiet de nule viande puis qu« li
anemis le commencha prcmierement a traueillier. Et ie
dis mes eures, & puis me reuesti, si cantai la messe.
Et quant ele fut cantee, & ie fui reuenus au boin
homme, si le trouai dormant moult durement. Et ie qui
onqu€s de tout la nuit n'auoie dormi se moult pau non,
m'acoutai deiouste lui sour .i. *escamel, si commenchai
a soumellier. Et lors me vint en avision que restoie au
pie du tertre desous* vne fontaine, si passoit par illuec
vns vies hom qui portait en son geron pumes & poires
a grant ple72tei, & si les ve^'soit el mien. A tant me
leuai, si alai aual le tertre & si trouuai quankes ie auoie
veu en m'avision. Et quant li preudom eut mis le
fruit en mon g[e]ron, si me dist : *' Chascun ior troueras
chi ta viande apparellie par le grant maistre." Lors
me retoumai, si trouuai le frere esuillie, si li baillai du
fruit, & il en manga moult uolentiers comme chil qui
tant auoit iune qu'il ne se soustenist sour ses pies pour
tout le monde. Tant demourai en sa compaignie que il
fu tons garis & respasses. Et cbascun iour trouuiens
nosh^ viande apparellie a la fontaine ensi comme U
sains espms le nous amenistroit. Et quant vint au
neuuisme iour, che fa au ioesdi apres le witaules,' si
rs^QU partL Et quant ie pris congie du boin bomme, si
commencba a plourer, et dist, ke ore estoit il moult

' et iou li demandai quel viande il mangeroit. — B.
' Et qtkint ce uint as octaues de la paske, si nous de«
partimes. 10,292, leaf 3, col. 8. ' MS dosous.

THE WONDERFUL BEAST GUIDES THE WHITER BOMB. 23

esmaies qtumt ie m'en aloie. Apres me conta coument

c'estoit auenu que li dyables Tauoit ensi trauillie. Et w*»y the devii

posMMt the

che anoit este par .L pechie ke il auoit fait. Ne ne so bermit.

recordoit pas qu'il eust fait pechie dont chars morteus

se peust garder, ke seuleznent chelui, puis qu'il auoit

lecheu abit de relegion. Et qiiant il se fu rendus

confeSf si me requist ke ie priaise nostre sigxiour ke il

par sa pitie Ie gardast de faire pechie: par quoi il

iamais conqu^sist son mautalent. A tant nous entre^

baisames, si nous departimes andui a grans plours & a

grant destreche. Et se on peust iugier home par veoir,

Ie ne quit pas qu^en nul homme peust auoir plus de

bonte que ie yi en lui. Or esgardes com diex est aspres How ood {• a

iugieres & laiges *guerredoneres. Car ki tons iours Tara [• leaf e. i»ci:j

serui, se il fenist en yn mesfait, tons les seruiches ara nwarder.

pieidus, <& en che mesfait sera iugies. Et qui tons

iours li ara mesfait, s'il se raert en son seruiche, tuit si

mesfait sont estaint, & ses seruiches li est a cent doubles

guerredounes. Ensi dut cU auoir perdue Tamour de

son signour par .L mesfait qui auoit este en son seruiche

Ie plus de son eage. Et chil Ie dut auoir gaignie par

yne seule oeixre, qui Tauoit tons iours fui & eskieue.

Chiertes, moult boin Ie fait seruir & mauuais courechier.

A tant pn's congiet. Et qt^nt il m'eut conuoie iusc^e^

son peiistis/ si ueismes la bests qui m'auoit amene. Et Tiie Beast re-

11 demanda ke che pooit estre. Et ie li dis ke ie n'auoio

eu autre contredit : ^ & k'ele estoit de par dieu. Et il

dist, ke bten faisoit li sixes a seruir qui si hten sauoit

coTuiuire ses sergans en sa besoinge. Ne onqt^«s ne poi

apercbeuoir ke nus en toute la yoie yeise la beste, que

il seulement. Lors me departi du boin home, si m'en The monk

... , reaches home

reuing tout autresi com ie i estoie ales ; tant ke ie uing on Saturday
au samedi au soir a mon bermitage.' Mais Ie liuret ne *^° ^'

* postiB. — B.

' ? conduit. ' Sc iou li dis q»« ioa n*auoie autre c^^Tiduisor
en la Toie.* 10,292, leaf 8, back, col 1. ' habitacle.— B.

a CHRIST BIDS THE WRITER COPT THE BOOK OF THE HOLY QRXIL

The wrltei'a
Tlrion.

Christ app«a»,
andoommands^
him to copy The
Book Into
another.

[•leaf 6, back.

coLSJ

On Monday h«
begins to copy
The Book of the
Holy Grail.

laissai ie xnie, anchois Ten aportaL Car trop desiroie
le compaignie des saintes paroles qui i estoient Et
quant ie Toi ostoie la u ie Tauoie mis prenuerement, si
fis le seruiche de uespres & de complie. Apres mangai
che que nostie signour plot, & si m'alai couchier, car
festoie m^t las. Ichele nuit m'auint vne auisions, ke
li grans maistres nenoit deuant moi en autel habit com
il auoit fait a Tautre fois. Et si me disoit " au premier
ionr ouuraule de la semaine qui enterra demain, te
conuent a commenchier a escrire en autre lieu le liuret
que'iQ te baiUai, si ke tu Taies escrit *ains Pascention.
Car il n'iert ia veus en tcrre puis que Teure uenxa que
ie montai el chiel a chiel eure meisme. Et toutes les
coses qui te conuerront a I'escrire, trouueias en Faumaire
qui est el mur derrier ton auteL Et ne t'esmaie pas de
che ke tu ne fesis onques tel mestier. Car nule oeure
ne puet estre maufaite qui par moi soit c{?mmenchie."
A tant s'en partL Et au matin qt<ant ie fui leues, si
alai a Taumaire pour esprouer se m'avisions estoit uraie ;
Si trouuai toutes les coses qui conuenoient a escriuent.^
Et quant li dimenches fu passes, & ie oi au lundi la
messe chantee, si pris le liuret & le parchemin, & conv-
menchai a escrire tout droit au lundi de la quinsaine de
pasqe/es. Et li commenchemens de Tescripture si fa
pris del crucefiement ihe^u crist ensi comme yous orres.^

' Aa matin me leuai ensi oomme il'm^auoit roue, et trouai
fot ce qu'il oouenoit a escriuain, pene^ enore, parcemin, &
ooutd. (MS 10,292.)

' An illustration.

25

[LI LIVBE8 DU SAINT GBAAL.^

CHAPTEK L

Of Christ on the Cross. Of the character of Joseph of Arima-
thea (p. 26). How he got the dish out of which Christ eat
the Last Supper with his Disciples (p. 27). How he was one
of Pilate's knights, and begged Christ's body from him (p.
28), and put it in his own sepulchre, and then collected
the drops of Christ's blood in the dish of the Last Supper
(p. 29). How, while Joseph slept^ some Jews seized him,
and carried him away to a prison of Caiaphas's (p. 29).
How he lived forty-two years in the prison (p. 81), and how
he was delivered out of it on this wise : — Vespasian, Titus's
son, was a leper ; a knight from Capernaum tells him that
a touch from anything Christ has touched will cure him
(p. 32) ; the knight returns to Judea, and gets the Veronica
kerchief from Mary the Phenician (p. 33), and cures
Vespasian with it (p. 84). Vespasian goes to Jerusalem
and seizes all who were concerned in Christ's death.
Joseph's wife tells him of her husband (p. 35) ; Caiaphas
takes him to the prison, and Vespasian goes down into it
(p. 86). He releases Joseph (p. 37), bums the abettors
of Christ's death (p. 38), discusses what shall be done with
Caiaphas (p. 39), and has him put into a boat by himself,
and pushed out to sea (p. 40).

Ay iouT que li sauueies du monde souf&i mori;, 'par
la qui mort jiodie ^mors qui a nous estoit con-
dempnable fu raoatee perdurablement,^ a chel iour estoit
encore moult pen de gent qui creissent en lui; Ne mais ke How ftw tieiicred
la gloneose virge puchiele sa douche mere os ses desciples emciflxion.
qui a chel ioux estoient apiele si &ere. £t s'il en i auoit
dea autres qui creissent, moult [peu] en i auoit a cler.
Car Tescripture dist que quant il dist : '* Biaus pere, se
il puet estre que ie ne sustienge cheste passion," que il
n*en estoit^ pas si courrechies pour Tan'goisse des cors [•iMf6»iMdc,

^ ^ col. 8]

' — ' fu mors destruite, et noftre uie restoree. — ^6.
• — * over an erasure in A. * MS eetois.

26 OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND HIS GREAT GOODNESS.

eomme pour chou ke il veoit ke s'amouis n'auoit encore
nului rachate. Ke il ne veoit nului qui il eust conqvds !
par sa moit, ke seulement le larron qui li cria le merchi
en la crois. Et pour cheste cose dist rescriture : " ^le
Bui autresi eomme chil qui conkeut Testeule en le
maison^." Et cb^est a dire qu*il n'auoit encore nului
rachate par sa mort, que le larron qui estoit noiens
enuers Tautre gent^ autresi com li esteule est noiens
enu^rs le grain. Et ne pour quant il estoit mout de
cheus qui auoient le commencbement de croire, mais il
ne I'osoient mie faire apiertement, car il doutoient les
HowJoMphof juis. Mais de deseure tous les couuiers creans, parole
McratbeUever 11 saiuto escriture du graal du gentil home d'un
chituxler qui estoit a che tans, qui auoit non Joseph de
Arimathie. Anmathie estoit vne chites en 1a terre
^d& ramathe outre le flun iordain. & si dist la letre
and came from qud ele fu elchane, le pere samueL De chele chite fu
Eikanah.the ues joseph.' Mais 11 s*en estoit venus en iheru^aleni .vij.
ans deyant che que ihesua cris fu mis en la crois. Et moult
How good ho was. estoit piteus et dous & de grant relegion, & si auoit recheu
la creanche ihesu. crist. "Mala il n'en osoit fiure sam-
hl&ntf ke li iuif ne Tochesissent. De toutes les bontes
ki en home mortel pooient estre, estoit ioseph gamis.
Car H amoit dieu & doutoit. II estoit piteus & deboin-
aires v^rs son proisme. II estoit de grant houneur &
de grant reuerence vers les "phis haus de luL II estoit
paisiules & concordans vers ses parens. 11 estoit sans
damage & sans nuisement as plus bas de lui. II estoit
de g7*ant misericorde plains vers les soufiraiteus. Toutes
ches bontes estoient en lui. Et de lui parole li pre-
Tiie first VnXm miere saume du sautier qui dist : " Li bom e^^ boinereua

apeaks of h^"».

qui ne s'acorde pas ne cousenti au conseil des felons,

1 — 1 ausl oomme oil qf«i cuelle Testeule el tans de
meisson. — B, leaf 3, back, col. 2.

' — ' d'animathie qui moult estoit bele. En oele t^re &
en cele oyte estoit ioseph nes. — B.

V

JOSEPH FINDS THE DI8H OP OHBIST's LAST SUPPEB. 27

£t qui ne Taut aler par la voie as pe'clieouis." Ichis c*ieftf ?]

ioaepli estoit en iherosalein, et sa feme, & yns siens fiex Jowph (or

qui ot non iosephes. Et sachies que che ne fii nue chil ^^

ioeephes qui I'escrituie trait si sounent a tesmoing, an- hMawmJoMphM

chois fa vns autres qui ne fa mie mains letties de dielui.

Ichist iosephes passa le lignage ioseph son peie outre (whoeomMto

mer lusqu^n la bloie bertaigne, qui ore a a non engle* orsngiaadow

teire. '£t si les passa sans auiron & sans gouu^mal, frontoriiiaihirt

& onqu^ n'i ot uoile ke le geron de sa chemise, sans

plus, ensi com I'estoire le dira cha en auant.' Et quant

yint au ior ke ihe^us fu mis en crois, Ioseph, qui toute

s'amouT auoit en lui mise, en eut moult grant duel Et

si se pensa ke toutes les coses qui a lui apartenroient

essaucheroit moult volentiers & honerroit. Car il ne

Teust pas ame a la yie se il ne Tamast a la mort. Et

pour chou dist la letre que ' nule auersites ne puet de*

partir loial amour.' Quant ioseph vit chelui en la crois When JoMph

MM thfl Sftviour

qui il creoit a fil dieu & a sauueour du monde, si ne fu dead.
pas eshahis ne mescreans pour chou que il le vit mourir.
Anchois atendoit, & creoit certainement sa sainte resur-
rection. Et pour chou qu'il ne le pooit auoir uif, si
pensa que il feroit tant qu'il aroit de ches coses a quoi
il auoit touchie corporelment en sa vie. Lors en yint be goe« to the

1 • ••« -i A 1 • -I M hoa«e where

en la maison ou mesua auoit tenue sa cnaine, la u il jcnueatuie

manga Taigniel de pasqu€s auoec ses desciples. Et ^'»*^"pp*»

quant il yint en la maison, si demanda a ueoir le lieu

ou il auoit mangie. Et on li moustra yn lieu qui estoit

estahlis pour mangier : si estoit li plus haus estages de

la maison. Illuec trouua ioseph I'escuele en quoi li iinde the diah in

which He hmd

fiex dieu auoit mangie, soi tresime, deuant che qu'il eaten,

dounast as onse sa char Ss son sane a yser. Et quant

il le tint, si en fu motdt lies, si Tenporta en sa maison andcarrieeit

& si I'ostoia en moult honeste lieu & en moult bieL £t

quant il *seut que li sauueres du monde estoit mors, & i*\mn, ook si

ke chil Tauoient trouue mort qui li yoloient hrisier les

1 — * Et le passa sans auiron al pan de sa cliemLse. — B.

28 JoaBPH BEOS Christ's bodt of filatb, and buries it.

JoMph U one of
Pllato's knlghta
[toldoier^ B.],

and begs a dioap
gift of him.

Chrbfibodj.

How great the
giftroaUjwaa.

ToMph wMpi at
theCrouj

[•leaf 7,001.8]
iakee down the
body, and pute it
in hie lepalohre.

quisses autresi com as autres larrons, II ne vaut mie
tant atendre ke li felon 11 desloial qui le mescreoient le
despendissent ne le mesissent ius de la crois a lor ordes
mains cunchijes. Anchois vint il a pilate, qui chtual^rs
terriens il estoit ; Car il auoit este ses saudoiers .vij.
ans tons plains. Et quant il vint deuant lui, si li pria
en guenedon de tons les seroiches qu'il 11 auoit fait,
11 otriast .1. don qui de m&ult petit coustement H serroit.
£t pilates, qui moult ^ amoit & lui & son seruiche, 11 re-
spondl ke il Taroit; Car 11 le deuoit bten auoir plus
liche qu'il n*auoit dit £t ioseph 11 demanda le cors
ihefiu, et pilates 11 dona comme chll qui ne sauoit ke 11
11 dounoit. Car 11 11 quidoit douner le cors d'u7» poure
pecheour : & il 11 dounoit le pardon des pecheours &
le pain de vie. II 11 quida doner vne poure caronge
pour don : & il 11 douna le douneour de tons les grans
& le resuscitement de toutes les karoignes qui en forme
humalne sont fourmees. Che fa 11 plus riches dons
que nus horn morteus donast onques. Mais pour chou
qu6 la consciense pilate fu tele ke 11 ne sauoit qu'il 11
douna, pour chou le doit on mieus apieler despit ke don.
Car se il creist la grant hautece & la pulssanche dont
chll estoit qui cors 11 auoit done, 11 n*en preslst pas
toute la rikeche & la signourie du monde. £t ioseph
qui la grant hauteche du don counissoit bten, en fu
moult ioians quant il 11 f u otroies. £t si s*en tint hien
apaiet moult plus (\ue pylates ne s'en tint a hien paiant.
£t quant il vint a la crois ou 11 pendoit encore, si com-
mencha a plourer moult tenrement pour Iqs grans dolours
ke 11 veoit qu*ll auoit souffertes. £t quant 11 Teut de-
spendu a *grans souspirs & a grans plours, si le coucha
en vn sepulcre qu'il auoit fait trenchler en la roche, ou
11 melsmes deuoit estre mis a sa mort. Puis ala qu^re
Tescuele en sa maison.'

' 'qui rsiouW is repeated twice in the MS.

* Here follows (in A) an illustration with a different version

E

JOSEPH COLLECTS CHRIST's BLOOD IN THE DISH. 29

«

t qt^ant il vint au cors, si conquelli le degout da Oet« tiM dish,
sane ia.ni com li en puet auoir & si le nust en 1 es- blood iu il
cuele. Puis reporta I'escaele en sa maison, par qui diex
fist & moustra puis maintes virtue & en terre de promis-
sion & en maintes autres t^rres. Et quant il Teut mise
cl plus net lieu ke il sauoit, si prist de ses plus riches wnpi th« bod/
dras, & s*en touma au sepulchre, si enseueli le cors de '

son signour si richement & a grant hounour com il pent
plus. Et quant il Teut enseueli, si le coucha el sepul- i»taagreat
cbre. et si mist a I'entree vne pierre moult grant & moult •ntnmoe of the

■epololfre.

pesant, pour chou qu il ne voloit que nus entrast el lieu

ou si haute cose gisoit com estoit li cors del fil dieu«

Mais qt^nt li iuif virent ke ioseph auoit despendu de Th«j«ws'«iig«r.

la crois chelui qui il auoient iugiet a mort & dampne,

& qu'il Tauoit si hautement enseueli, si en furent moult

courchie & moult le tinrent a grant orgueL Si pnsent

consel ensamhle, & disent ke hien estoit drois ke ioseph

comparast che ke il auoit fait, & contre dieu & encon-

tre le loy. Si pourparlerent ke il le prcnderoient la

nuit del premier somme, & si Tenmenroient' en tel

lieu ke iamais n*oroit on de lui enseignies. A che con-

seil se *tinrent tout; si murent la nuit del premier c*iMf7,bftck]

somme & feri Tuns d'aus a Tuis. Et quant il fu ouuers,

si entrerent tuit ens a vne hruie, et pnsent ioseph tout The Jew* Mice

1 . . m. It' i-i_ 1 t * Joeeph end cany

endormi, si lenmenerent loing de iheTuaalem bien .y. him off oat of
lieues en vne fort maison qui estoit Teueske chayphas.

of the blood-gathering. The heading is — ** Ensi que iosephs re-
coilli le degout du sane qui issoit des plaijes nostT% seigneur qui
puis fil apeles li sains graalz." The illustration figures Joseph
Bitting under the cross, and collecting the drops of blood from
the chest and feet in a basin. Mary wringing her hands stands
on Christ's right, and John, pointing to him, on the left The
cross-bars of the thieves' crosses pass under their arms behind
their backs, their hands are folded on their bellies in front, and
crosses of blood are on their folded hands, as if nails had been
driven right through the hands and bellies. In MS 10,292, an
angel is carrying off the child-soul of the repentant thief on
the right ; while a devil pounces on that of the unrepentant
one on the left.

' The MS repeats, '<la nuit del premier somme : et si Ten-
menroient.'*

Jernaalem«

30 JOSEPH IS OAST INTO PRISON, BUT IS COMFORTED BT THE ORAIL.

Ichele maisons estoit en vne moult grant mareschi^re :
si i anoit .i. piler tout crues qui sambloit estre massis.
Dedens che piler auoit la plus hideuae cbartre qui
onquea fust veue, et la plus orde. lie nus ne 8*en
ap^rchust se il ne li fust dit auant, tant soutiement
«nd giT« bim op estoit ouuree. Quant il orent ioseph mis hors de

to two of their set, . i v x j i j. • • j.

who pat him In inenifolem, 61 le liurerent a deus seulement qu; auoient

Sim to bTftd on^ i^i^ ^6 !& Hus par aus n'en saroit nouueles. Chil le

*° ^ '' menerent en la chartre, & deffendirent au chartiier ke

il n'eust a manger ke vne pieche de pain le iour, &

plain hanap d*iaue.^ Et maintenant 8*en retomeient

en ilieru«alem, si qu'il i furent anchois qu'il aioumast

£t lors si oirent le tumulte & la grant plainte, de

ioseph qui pendus^ est.' £t quant pilates le seut, si

en fu moult dolens, mais il n'en seut qt^ faire. car il

pensoit bten que che auoient fait li iuif par le conseil

des maiBtres de la I07; si n'en sauoit que faire. £t

Whm chrirt quont uint au diemenche ke ihe^us f u resussites, & les

rltM, CalAphif

t«iiith«jau«rto gardes orent dit as iuis comment il auoient pierdu ihesvL :
si manda cbaypbas a son chartrier qu'il ne Li dounast
iamais a manger, anchois le laissast morir de faim. Mais
li sires pour qui semiche li iuif pour-caclioient sa mort,
ne le vaut pas werpir en sa meschaiiche ; Anchois li
guerredouna a chent doubles son seruiche. Car main-

but Christ brings tenant ke ses cors fu issus du sepulchre, vint il a lui

him the DUh with ., . o . ,. . .

the Blood into the en la chartre ou il estoit, & si li porta por eompaigme

& pour comfort la sainte escuele qiie ioseph auoit ostoie

[•leaf 7, hack, en sa msison a tot *le sane qu'il auoit requellL £t

col. S]

quont ioseph le vit^ si en fu motdt lies; et lors seut il
yraiement ke ch'estoit diex. si ne s'en repentoit mie
de son seruiche, Anchois auoit tel ioie ke il ne li
chaloit de la prison puis qu'il auoit le confort et la
compaignie de son signour. Ensi aparut li sauueres

' & vne hanapee d*aigaa 10,292, leaf 4» ool. 1.
• f far perdus.

' Et midntenant fu la nouyele espandue que ioeeph estoit
pc*rdu8. — B.

JOSEPH IS 4S TEAB8 IN PRISON. HIS SON IS BAPTIZED. 81

du monde a ioseph anchois ke a autrui. £t si le con- chrittcomforu

forta moult^ & dist que 'hien fust 11 seois qu'il ne al^l^hhniM

morroit pas en la pWson, ains en istroit tous sains & '^^^ ^^

tout sauSy ne ia mal ne doleor n'i anroit, & si seroit tous

iours en sa compaignie. Et quant il en istroit, il tour-

neroit a merueille tout le mont qui le u^rroit. !Et apres

serroit ses nons portes en estrainges Ileus, & par lui & *^ ^"7 hu

nuiM to foraign

par ses oirs. Mais encore ne estoit pas li termes que U iMida.
en issisty ains demourroit grant pieclie tant que tous 11
decles quiderait qu'il fust mors. Et quant il Ten
uerroient issir, si en serroit ses nons glorefies et loes, &
maintes gens en kerroient.' Ensi remest ioseph en la
prison tant que tous estoit oublies & ke nus ne tenoit
mais parole de lui. Si remest sa feme motdt esgaree, joMph's wub
qui encore estoit iouene feme; Et ses fiex iosephe[8] joMphMu*

dimuurcd.

qui n'auoit k'an & demi quant ses peres fu mis en
prison. Si fu la dame maintes fois amonestee de marier.
Mais ele dit k*ele n'aroit iamais camel compaignie Bntsh«wnino4

mMTiy again,

deuant k'ele seust certaine nouuele de son mari ; Car
el Tamoit sour toute creature. Et quant li enfes uint
a age de marier, si li enorterent si parent qua il se
mariast. Mais il estoit si espris de Tamour ihe^u crist
t>ar Tamonestement de sa mere, qu'il dist qu'il ne feroit Md imt ton wni

. only many Holy

ia manage de sol que a samte eglise seulement. Car il chnroh.

creoient andoi, & auoient recbeu baptesme en la main

Baint lakeme le menor, qui fu eueskes de iherusalem

grant tans puia la mort ihe^ crist. Et ioseph fu en la How JoMph Hwd

48 yean in prison,

prison, ensi com vous aues oi, tant qu'il i demoura C*teaf7,i»ck,

.xlij. ans, & lors Ten geta vaspasiens li empe9*eres de andhowhewaa

rome. Et si orres comment U demoura .xlij. ans. Au of it.

iour qu€ ihesua fu crucefies, tenoit tyberius cosar Tem- ^^^,^^„

pire de rome, et aprcs che le tint il .x. ans. Apres •ft^chrf**.

regna gains ses nies, qui ne vesqui ke .i. an. Et apr^

regna claudiens, qui tint Tempire de rome .xiiij. ans.

Apres claudien regna noirons, sous qui satW pierres fu

crucefies et aains paus decoles. Et si ne tint I'empire

32 HOW JOSEPH OOMEB TO BB FBEED FROM PRISON BY VESPASIAN.

After Nerop que .xiilj. ans. Apres noiron regna tytus & vaspasi-
orerRMn^ JBDS 868 fiox, qul fu mosiaus. £t au tierch an que titus
lecbut rempire, fu ioseph ietes de prison. £ si pees
conter .xl^'. ans del cruchefiement ihe^u crist iusc'au
deliuiement de ioseph. Et si ores comment il fu de-
liuies. n aoint le premier an ke titus fa empereres
Mid his ion que ses fiex vaspa8\jens deuint mesiaus si tres dorement

Yospasian

becomes a leper, que nus ne le pooit souffrir. De cheste cose eut titns
ntqi offeri gifts si grant duel, qw'il n'en pooit estre confortes. Et fist

toa^jonewho

wiu oiu« bis SOD. sauoii par toutes t^rres ke qui porroit son fil garir de la
meselerie, il U donroit si riche don com il oseroit^ dire
de bouche. Et qt^ant il eut par tout fait sauoir, si no
trouua home qui Ten seust garir. Tant qu*il auint

A knight of cose c'un chiualers de uers caphamaum vint a rome, qui

Caper&mam eski

to talk with en oi la parole. Et quant il vint deuant Tempe^'eour,

Yespaalaiia

si dist qu'il parleroit uolentiers a son fil poi^r son preu.

Et il le fist mener a la fenestre d'une cambre ou il

estoit tons sens, si parloit on a lui par chele fenestre.

Car on ne peust autrement souffrir le grant puasine qui

de lui issoit. Et qt^nt il eut son chief mis hors par

la fenestre, si le regarda li chiualers, & vit qt^'il estoit

Mid tells him bow plus mesiaus que nus ne peust penser. Et chil li de-
he himseir was a ^ ^ ^ ^
leper, and was mauda tautost 86 il sauoit aucune cose qui li peust auoii

•ored by Jesus,

mestier. Et li chiualera li dist : " Sire, certes ie uous
y avoie, pour che ke ie fui ia mesiaus en m'enffanche."
[• leaf 8] ** Ha, biaus sire, dist chil, comment en ga*ristes vous
donqt^^ 1 " " Chertes, dit cil, par .i. prophete qui fu
en iudee ke li iuif ochisent a grant tort." " Et par quoi
whotoaohedhim vous en cari ill" che dist uaspasiens. "Chertes, dist

and made him ® r ~j

whole, chil, il ne fist ke touchier a moi et tantost fui tous

garis." '' Coument, dist il, si estoit de si grant pooir
qu*il garissoit de meselerie)" "Certes, sire, dist li
chiualerBy encore faisait il plus ; Car il resuscitoit les
mors." Et il demanda pour quoi il auoit este ochis.
" Certes, sire, dist il, por chou k'il prechoit ueritei, &

' MS oaoroit.

THB VERONICA IS SENT TO BOME TO CURE VESPASIAN. 33

ke il reprennoit les iuis de lor felounies. Et ie croi ke ud that anything

... . . that Christ hu

se vous tenies cose a quoi il enst toucme, que yous toochadwonid

ganiies maintenant." Qi^ant chil Toi, si en cut trop

grant leeche, & si fist enuoier qwere son pere. Et si li

fist conter la parole, car il ne pooit mais gaires parler.

£1 titus dist qz^'U enuoieroit sauoir se on porroit liens Titni mti he

trouuer ki a led eust touchie. '^ Sire, dist uaspasiens, Mmeihing.

pries ent cliest ch/z^er qui est de la terre. Et si li

donnes tant du uo^^re ke il fache chest message. Car

li cuers me dist que ie garirai Et se g'en puis garir,

ie promech bten an prophete que ie prendrai uenianche

de la honte ke li iuif li fiisent." Tant pria. titus Ie Titui aain th#

knight to ander*

chfuakr ke il li otria a faire son message. Et il li tak« the task.
bailla laouli riche hamois, & si li bailla son seel, ke tout
chil a qui ches letres veoroient fesissent quanqtz^ il
(^mmanderoit. Lors en uint li chiwalers en iudee, si The knight flnda

Felix, governor

trouua en ^herusalem vn remain qui auoit non felis, qui of Jenuaiem,
a chel iour estoit garde de iudee & de sulie ensi, com li
remain metoier^t lor gardes par les terres ke il auoient
conqtnses. A chelui bailla li (^iualeta Ie seel Tem-
p^reour. Et qt^nt chil ot leu les letres, si dist qu^il
commandast son plaisir, & il seroit fais. Et li chtwalers *nd orders him to

^ ^ ^ have proclamation

dist, ke il fesist crier par toute la t^rre, ke qwi aroit made for any-

^ \ _ thing Christ haa

nule cose ke ihe^us eust tenue, aportast Ie auant ; Et touched.

qui en cheleroit riens, 'et il peust estre apercheu, il n'en [♦leafs.ooi. 2]

porroit escaper ke il n'en mourust. Ensi com il Ie cowr-

manda, ensi fu crie, & en ihen^alem tout premierement.

Mais onqr^s ne vint auant qui riens en reconeust, Fors

que vne feme de moult grant aage qui auoit nom marie

la uenissiene.^ Chele vint a felis, <& si li porta vne Mary the pheni-

pieche de toille k'ele auoit garde mm^lt honorement puis veronica cioth,

Ie cruchefiement de ihe^u ; Et si Ie dist : " Sire, au takes it to Rome.

iour qu« li sains prophetes fu menes cruchefiiier, si

passoie ie deuant lui, si portoie vne pieche de toille

uendre. Et il m'apiela, si me pna ke ic li pr^staisse

' qui auoit non ucrone. — B. Iciif 4, back, col. 1, at foot
ORAAL. 3

34 YESPAfilAN IS OnnSD OF HIS LEFBOST BT THJB TEBONICA.

VMIMSfUl't
drMUQ*

[•leaf 8. col. S]

On teelnsr the
rloth. Vespation
is healed.

and derUTM that
he win take
Twwtgt for
Chriat'8 death.

He goes to
Jerttialem.

cbele toille pour son vis essuer qui 11 degoutoit tons de
suouT. £t quani ie Fen oi essue, si Tenuolepai & Ten-
porta[i] en maison. £t quant ie le desuolepai, si trouuai
la figui'e iheavL autresi parant ke se on Teust painte en
vne paroit. Des la en cha Tai gardee, si ne fui onqt^^
puis si malade, se ie le poi veoir ke mai^itenant ne
fuisse toute garie/' £t ele desploia la toile, si sambla
k'ele fust toute nouelement tissue, & la figure i paroit
autresi bien com s'ele i eust este lors emprientee. Chele
toille en aporta li chtualers a rome. £t la nuit deuant
che qu'il i uemst, si songoit yespasijens ke vns horn
Tenoit de uers le chiel, si le prenoit as ongles, si I'escor-
choit tout. £t quant il estoit escorchies, si gardoit en
.L xniroir s'Q se pooit counoistre. £t tous li siecles
couroit apres lui & disoient '' venes veoir Tomme mort
qui est reuescus 1 " Au matin quant il fu leues, si uint
ses peres deuant lui com chil qui Tamoit sour toute
liens. £t quant vaspasiens le vit, si li dist: "Sire,
faites vous lie, car ie sai de uoir que ie garirai/' & lors
si li dist son songe. A ches paroles vint li chtualers.
£t quant vaspas\jens le vit, qui encore estoit a la
fenestre, si senti que tout li membre li alegoient. Si
commencha a huchier de si loing com il le *vit : " Vous
Bojjes li hien venus, car yous aportes ma saute." £t li
chiuulets desploia tantost la toille sans plus dire. £t
maintenant que vaspasijens vit Tempriente de la figure,
si fu plus biaus & plus sains ke il n'auoit onqu^s este
nul iour. £t quant ses peres le vit, & les autres gens,
si f u la ioie si grans qtie nus ne le kerroit qui veue ne
Teust. £t lors prist vaspasiens la visiere, si I'ostoia
au plus houneraulement que il pent. £t si dist qu'il
ne finoroit iamais deuant che qu'il eust uengiet la honte
au signeur qui sante li auoit rendue. Maintenant fist
atoumer son oirre, et mut pour aler en iudee, & si
enmena le chtualer auoec lui, & si le fist signour de
toute sa maison. £t quant il fu uenus en iberusalem,

VESPASIAX BURNS THOSE WHO BROUGHT ABOUT CHRIST'S DEATH. 35

si fist venir deuant lui marie la ucnlssiene. Et chele

li nouma tous chiaus qui enchoro vinoient par qui Maiyntmeithe

tniton against

forche & par qui conscil ihesus auoit recneu mort Et chrtat, and they

vaspasiens Ics fist tous prendre, & si jQst fairs .i. grant

fu, & dist que la les ardroit tous. Et quant la feme Joaeph'a wife

' ^ ^ ^ begs for har

ioseph oi ches nouueles, si vint auant entre li & son fiL buaband.

Et si se clama de son singnour que H li auoient tolu, no

onqz^es puis ensenges n'en auoit oies. Et on li demanda

pour quoi il auoit ibe^ despendu de la crois & mis en .i.

sien sepulcre. Et qi^ant il oi chou, si iura qu'il les arderoit

tous se il ne li enseignoient ou il estoit. Et chil li respon- The tnuon

oannot tell where

dirent ke ardoir les porroit : car il ne u poiroient rendre, he la,

ne il ne sauoient qu'il estoit deuenusT Et il disoient uoir

ke il n'en sauoient nule uerite. "Ne des .ij. qui le menerent

en la prison n'i auoit il mais c'un seul yi£ Car li

autres eut la teste caupee dedens la semaine ke il I'orent

enprisoune. Et li cartiiers chai des fenestres de la tour

a terre Tendemain ke il li laissa a douner a manger.

Ensi ne lemest que 11 vns vis, che fu cliayphaB qui though CaUphaa

estoit eaeaquea des iuis 'Pan ke ihesuB oris morut. Et [« leaf s, back]

quant il virent ke mouxir les conuerroit, si dirent que

d'aus porroit il faire sa uolente & son commandement,

car il estoit uoirs qu'il avoient pris ioseph. Mais il

Tauoient bailliet a dous d'aus, pour chou qu'il ne voloient \

pas ke il senssent tuit ou il serroit en prison. De ches

.ij. estoit cbayphas li vns. Et se chil ne V sauoit, dpnt

n'en orroit il iamais nouuieles par nule homme. Lors

demanda chayphas a veoir. Et qi^nt il fu yenus Caiaphaaia

brought np,

deuant lui, si le fist hien garder, & tous les autres fist and the othera
ardoir. Et qt/ant il furent ars, si dist a chayphas ke il
feroit de lui la grignour iustiche qui onqu^a fust faite
d'ome se il ne li rendoit ioseph. Et chayphas respon- caiaphaa agreea
doit que ' dont en poo^t il faire la iustice tele com lui Joseph was
plairoit, ke se tout chil du monde Tauoient iure, ne 1' u not to be'bonit
porroient il rendre vif, se diex meismes non. Mais il
li enseigneroit le lieu ou il auoit este en prison mis :

36 VESPASIAN GOES DOWN INTO JOSEPH'S PRISON, TO FREE HIM.

Ho takes them to
tho priaon.

bnt refUaee to
enter it hhnaelf.
[* leaf 8, back,
Ota. 2]

YespMlan goei
down into it.

VeepMiui telle
Joseph who he le,

end that he haa
oome to deliver
him.

Car de ea xiie ne sanoit il rienfl. Mais ke che fust par
tel conueni qu'il ne fust ais ne ochis.' £t vaspasiens
respond! que tous seurs fust, car il li creantoit loiaument
ke il ne le feroit ne ardoir ne ochirre. Et lors le mena
chayphas a sa tour, au piler ou il estoit. Et si dist,
" Sire, en chest piler fu il mis des que ihemis fu cruche-
fijes que ie n'auoie mie .xxxiij. ans qui ore sui si vieus
con vous poes veoir." Et vaspasijens li dist, " Ne t'es-
maie, car chil pour qui il i f u mis, est tous poisans de
lui garder sain & sauf, & tant & plus. Car moi qui on-
ques serui ne I'auoie, a il gari de plus vil mal qui soit."
Lors coTTUnanda a chayphas ke il entrast en la chartre,
et SB il ne le trouoit vif, si en aportast les os. Et
chayphas respondi ke il n*i entrcroit s'il le deuoit tous
desmembrer. Et uaspasiens respondi ke il n'auoit *pas
tort, car il n' estoit pas raisons que si desloiaus pechieres
entrast en lieu ou si preudom fust com chil estoit qui
de la crois auoit despendu le sauueour du monde. Lors
dist qt^'il meismes i entreroit Si le fist aualer ens a
cheus ou 11 plus se creoit. Et q?/ant il vint a ual, si
vit entour lui si grant clarte, ke s'il i eust .c. chierges
alumes ele n'i fust pas si grans. Et il se tint a vne part
tous coIb, si fu tous esbahis de la grant clarte qu'il ueoit.
Et quant il ot este grant pieche, si apiela ioseph. &
ioseph respondi: "Biaus sire diex, qui est che qui
m'apiele 1 " " le sui, dist il, uaspasijews li fiex Tempe-
7'eour." Et ioseph s'esmerueilla, car il ne quidoit auoir
demoure en la prison com tant com il auoit du uenredi
iusc'au dimenche. Et au dimenche li apparut ihesvLS
cris, si ne quidoit pas ke en si peu de tans i eust empe-
reour cangie. Car la clartes ke ihe^u^ cris i aporta
quant il li apparut, ne estoit onq^^es puis falie, si ne qui-
doit pas qu'il li fust onques puis anujtie. Lors demanda
a uaspasijen, qu'il uoloit faire de luL Et uaspasijens li
dist, ke il I'estoit uenus deliurer, et uengior son eignour
des grans hontes c'on li auoit faites. Et quant ioseph

JOSEPH IS DRAWN UP OUT OP PRISON, BUT KNOWS NO ONE. o7

Toi, si en eut mowlt grant ioie. Lors se fist traire nas-
pasijens a mont tout pr^mieremout pour dire la sus la
grant m^nielle de la ioie qui ert a ual. Endementiers
vint yne vois a ioseph qui li dist : " "Nq t'esmaie mie, a heavenly voice

. 1 • J • • . tel^ Joeeph not to

mais soies tous seurs, car li temens vengieres est uenus. feu.

Chil te nengera de tes anemis corporelment. Mais

Tesp^ritueus uenianche serra asses plus gries. Et q«ant

tu aras veu quel uenianche il en aura prise, si te mous-

terrai com gv&iis paines il te co7menra souffrir j^our mon

non porter par les estranges terrea" Et ioseph lire- He asks after the

J. cT- Holy Dish:

spondi : " Sire, vos sergans est apparellies a *BOuffrir [• leaf s, back,

toutes les coses ke Yostre bouche li daignera c<;??iniander.

mais que ferai ie de uo sainte escuele 1 Car ie yauroie

moult qw'ele peust estre celee, & ke ia nus ne Ie veist."

Et la vois H respondi, " Ne t*esmaie de Tescuele. Car

q?/ant tu uenras en ta maison, tu lo trouueras en cheli the voice says it

lieu ou tu Tauoies mise quant ie Ie te aportai chaiens. home.

Or t*en va, car ie te pren en garde et en coiiduit vc?*s

tous homes.'' A tant s'en teut la vois, & vaspasijens Joseph is drawn

qui ia estoit en haut, Ie refist traire a mont. Et quant prtM>n.

chayphas Ie vit, qui estoit illueq?<es, si ne li fu mie auis

ke il fust enuiellis ne tant ne quant; Anchois dist

qu'il ne Fauoit onques veu plus biel qu'ii estoit ore. Et

ioseph, qj^ant il Ie uit, ne Ie peust counoistre, tant He does not

estoit enuiellies & debrisies. Ke son fil ineisme qi^nt or iiis own lun.'

il Ie vint baisier, ne V counut il mie : anchois demanda

qui iL estoit. Et chil qui entour estoient, li disent qu'il

estoit ses fieus : & il ne T crei mie. Apres Ie courut sa

feme acoler & baisier, & il Ie commencha a regarder pour

che que trop estoit cangie. Et ele li dist, " Sire, dont

ne me counissies yous 1 Je sui elyab vo^^re femme, &

chis est iosephe[s] Yostre fiex." Et il li dist ke il ne Joseph doesn't

know his wife,

Ten kerra ia, se ele ne Ten desist uraies ensegnes pnuees.
Et vaspasijens li dist : " ioseph, com-bien quidies vous
auoir este en cheste prison ] " Et ioseph li dist, " Sire, ■«<! thinks he haa

■*■ ^ ^ bien only two

ie i quit auoir demoure des uenredi iusch'a huj, & ie dajiinprisouj

been then 4i
years.

38 VESPASIAN BURNS THOSE WHO ABETTED CHRIST*S DEATH.

quit qu'il soit hui dicmenclies. Et uenredi despendi iou
le urai prophete de la crois, pour qui ie fui en prison
mis." £t quant LL eut che dit, Si commenchierent a
lire tout chil qui estoient entour lui. Car il quidoient
que il fust ensi estourdis. Mais plus s'esmeruella
cajphas de che qu'il auoit tant uescu sans boire & sans
but vetpuijin mangier. Et vaspasijens li dist, " Par foi, il me font

t«ll8 hi in he haa

[*iearo] entendant ke il a .xlij. ans ke li pro*phetcs fu mis en
crois, & ke yous aues este .xlij. ans en prison. Et quant
you8 fiistes enprisounes tyberius cesar estoit empereres
de rome, & puis en i a eu trois. Ore est mes peres li
quars." Qz^ant ioseph che oi, si s'esmeruella trop. Et
uaspasijens li amena cayphas deuant li^ si li dema^da so
il le counissoit. Et il ne le counut mie : si demanda
qui il estoit. ^Et il respondi ke il estoit cayphas qui
Tauoit mis eu la prison eutre lui & vn autre. Et si li
dist ces enseignes, que qt^nt il Torent amene iusc'au
pie de la tour, si le laissierent si durement chaoir a
t«rre, ke il eut vne plaie sour le sourchil. Iches enseg-
joieph retnms to nes conut bten ioseph, si lor moustra la plaie. & quaut

Jeruaalem, .

il yint en ihcn/^alem, si li coururent si ami encontre, &
les autres gens ensamble. Mais moult en i eut peu qui
y. peust counoistre, ne des siens ne des estranges. Et
vaspasijens fist prendre tons chiaus qw'on pent trouuer,
si les fist amener deuant ioseph. Et tons cheus ke
points out the ioscph disoit qui auoient este en aide & en consente-

abetton of , .

Christ's death J mout de ihe^u crucifijer, si les fasoit tous ardoir sans

and Vespasian

burns them. raenchon prendre. Et quant 11 eut tout ars cheus qui

estoient vif ke ioseph peust cownoist/'e, si fu tenus li

wiiatistobe plais dc cayphas. Et uaspasijens apiela ioseph et chiau«

done with

coiaphasp de sa maison, si lor demanda comment il esploiteroit

sauf son creant. Car il li auoit creante qu'LL ne seroit

^ & 11 11 dist: "le fui cayphas qui YottM fis metre en
prison; a oheles ensenges q?^ \(Wi nos laissames si chaioir
que you» en eustes yne plaie en mi le front'* 10,292, leaf 6,
col. 2, middle.

JOSEPH BEOS THAT CAIAPHAS MAT NOT BB SLAIN. 39

ars ne ochis. Si i eut de tens qui iugierent ke il le

fesist metre en la prison on ioseph auoit este, si mourust

illuec de faim. Et li autre dirent ke il le pooit hien Hare him

faiie inorir sans fauser son creant. Car il ne V deuoit then b«-u nauhm

garandir que d'ardoir & d'ochire. Et s'il le faisoit noier, aiaia.

il ne serroit ne ochis ne ars. Et ioseph li dist : " Sire,

la forche & la signorie est en vous de lui faire morir.

Mais, -pour dieu, ne V faites pas ensL Car espoir encore JoMph a>ks that

amendera sa vie, & si kerra en chelui qui si longement

m'a gar*de sain & sanf, & iete hors de ses mains & de [*iMro.ooi.s}

mes autres anemis. Et par auenture encore le fera

jwstie sires tel que il ne vauroit mie qu^H fust mors en

chesti point." Et naspasijens li respond!: "Dea ke veiparfan't

Yotus le loes, il sera grant masse fait par yostre conseil ;

Car ie ne le ferai pas morir. Mais en aucune maniere

conxdent il ke ie prenge uenianche de la mort an signeur

qt^'il fist crucefijer a tort, & se il plaist au signour ke il

yiue, il viuera. Mais qt^ant ie mui en chest pais ie creantai

au signour que ie ne retoumeroie deuant que ie Teusse

uengie a mon pooir del tort & de la honte qui en cheste he hod rowed

.. -»-i.^» i» 111. • i-i •! th*t he would

vile u fu faite. Et le Ten doi moult men uengier ; Car il re% enge chriet'a
me gari de la gngnour meselerie que onqt^es cors d'o^nme *
soustenist au mien espoir. Mais quant ie fui venus en
cheste vile, & ie fis ardoir les premiers iuis par le con- *nd had burnt

' ^ ... theflratsetof

seil marie la venissiene qui m'enuoia la visiere dont ie Jewa;

gari, ^i Tint la clamours a moi des iuis qui vous auoient

mis en prison. Et cayphas me dist qu'il m'e/iseigneroit

le lieu ou yous auies este mis, par couuent ke ie li

creantaisse loiaument qu'il ne serroit ars ne ochis. Et

ie, qui vous desirroie a ueoir plus ke nul home, li otriaL ^ut had promiaed

, , . CaJnphaa not to

Car i'esperoie hien que li sires pour qid yous esties en bum or aiay him,

prison ne yous auoit pas si manuals guerredon rendu

qu'il YOU8 eust laissie morir en I'ordure de chele chartre.

Et ipour chou que ie li otriai, conuient il ke ie li tienge

son couuent, ne ie ne le ferai pas mourir. Mais pour

chou que Ten doi le haut Bignour en aucune maniere

40 CAIAPHAS 18 PUT OUT TO SEA IK A BOAT.

and would there- uengier, vous diiai qve Ven feraL Je le feiai metre en

fore send him oat ...__, ... .^. , .,

to Mft in a boat, mer en .1. oatieL £t quant le iarai fait eslongier de
ierTQ as autres nes, si le laissera on aler ensi comme il

to Uve, or drown, plaira a dieu qM*il aut. Se diex veut qM*il vine, il
viuera; et se il veut qu*il muire, il n'en escapera ia.
Ensi porrai mon creant sauuer: & s'il plaist an haut
aignour ke il muire en chest tourme^^t ou ie le feral
[•ieafo,coi.8] metre, dont en sera il hien uewgies. 'Et se il li plaist
qM*il en escape, il ne sera pas escapes par moi, mais par

caiaphaa ia pnt sa mauacje." A tant feni li conseus. Et uaspasijens le

into a boat, and ^ , .

pushed oat to aaa. fist maiutenant metre en .i. batel, & si le fist as
marouniers eslongier des riuages, Tant qu'il le laissie-
rent aler la ou auenture le menroit.^

Ensi vaspasiiens uenga ihe^u crist corporelment de
ses' anemis. & non pas 'A tant seulement : anchois
The contrast s*en ueuga ihc^u* cris par lui. Et che fu pour example

between the . . ^ - ., . . .

Pagans and Jews, moustrer de la desloiaute des iuis. Car cnil qiu il auoit
apiele kiens, che furent li paijen, ki li fisent "plus d'oun-
eur qui il apieloit ses fiex, che fiirent li iuif. Car li
iuis Tauoient cruchefijet, & li paien le vengoient.

CHAPTEE II.

How Joeeph was commandA*! by Christ in a vision to go and
preach the Gospel in foreign lands, taking the road to
Ephrata, but carrying nothing with him but the Holy
Dish, as God would provide for him. How Joseph is
baptized by St Philip (p. 41) ; and also Vespasian and all
his company ; and how Vespasian keeps it secret from hi^
father Titus, till it is known by a clerk's reproaching him
at the siege of Jerusalem (p. 42).

Apres s*en dut vaspasijens retoumer a rome. Et la
nuitdeuant qw'il s*en dut repairier, estoit ioseph en

' Here follows an illustration, representing Calapbas in a
smaller boat being pushed off by a sailor, who, with two other
men (Vespasian and Joseph), stands in a larger boat.

CHRIST BIDS JOSEPH QO TO FOREIGN LAKDS^ WITH THE ORAIL. 41

son lit. Si li vint yne auisions, que ihemia oris nenoit chHtt appears to

deuant lui, si li disoifc : " Joseph, li termes est venus que vi»ion,

tu t'en iras precbier mon non. Et si te conuenra

laissier pour moi toute la temene rikeche. Ke iamais

en cheste terr^ ne retorneras ; anchois sera ta semenche

espandue en si lontaignes t69Tes ke tu ne le porroies

peuser ne quidier. Car i'ai esleu aemplir les estranges uid mjs He haa

. J, - •j-ii. 1. chosen him to fill

tarres de ta semencne ; ne nue de cncli ke tu engenras, foreign lands with

/^i* i_j.£ivj.* • J* • r>t his spiritual seed :

Car de iosepne« ton nl n istra lamais cameus fniis ; Car
il m'a promise pardurable chaaste. Or si garde ke tu joeephiatobe
te faches demain baptisijer. Et si *t'en iras mainten- [•leafi.back]
ant bors de iherusalem en tel maniere ke iamais n*i
entreras. Et si t'en iras sans or & sans argent & sans
mounoie & sans caucbeure; ne ia ne porteras de toiis and go forth
auoirs qus m'escuele seulement. Itant porteras auoec or anything but

, . p . , , . , • • i. the Dish;

toi, & SI recbeueras en mainie et en compaignie tons
chiaus & toutes cbeles ki te yauront sieuir, & ki vauront
baptesme recbeuoir. Mais ie ne yeul ke nus port
pecuue en ta compaignie. Car tu & cbil qui loiaument
me seruiront auoec toi aront toutes les coses qwe lor bat au that they

want they shall

cuer penseront & desirrpnt. Et qi^nt tu t'en vauras have,
aler, si manderas tes parens, & tes amis, & les parens
ta feme. Si lor anoncbe ma creancbe, & lors si uerras
ti quel vauroi[en]t croire & aler apres toi. Et qwant
tu istras de ib^u^alem, si t'en iras toute la uoie qui ua
a ef&ate. Et ie t'ensengnerai lors que tu deuras faire,
& comment tu deueras aler."

u matin hien main se leua iosepb, & recbut cresti- Jowph is

baptized by St

ente de la main saint pbelippe, ki dont estoit Phiup.
eviesquea de iberzi^alem. Et quant vaspasijens Toi dire, si
Tenuoia quene, & demanda que cbe senefioit qu'il auoit
fait. Et iosepb li respondi ke cb'estoit li sauuemeTzs ibc^u
crist, & sans cbe ne pooit nus bo77i estre sains. Et quant
vaspasijens I'oi, si dist que cbeste creancbe prenderoit Vespasian is
il j si se fist baptisijer, & si fu iosepb ses maistres parinB.
Mais il fist iurer tons cbeus de sa maisnie ke ia ses

A

42

VESPASIAN KEEPS HIS BAPTISM SECRET.

and all his
companj ; bat It
U kept Mcret.

Of the destnic-
tiona of Jeruaa-
1am.

[•Ieaf9,baek,
ooLS]

How Yesposinn
was reproached
by a cleric for
warring against
Chriat.

peies n'en saroit riens par arts. Car il ne voloit pas que
868 peresJe seust deiiant qu'il eust enquis de lui meismes
si 11 plairoit la creanche a recheuoir on non. £t ne "pour
quant il fist tonte sa eompaignie baptisijer auoec lui
'Ne onques ne fa desconuert ke il fust baptisies deuant
ke il vinrent entre lui & son pere destruire ihenisalem
de la grant destruction qui fu anchois ke li crestijen
s'en fiiissent en la terre agrippe le fil hcrode agrippe.
Car dont fu *la grans destructions. Mais a cheste de-
struction que tytus & vaspasijens firent, ne fa ele pas si
destruite com a Tautre fois. Car dont fu ele si destruite
qw'il n'i reinest pierre sour autre. Ne li contes n'en
parole en auant fors que tant que tytus & vaspasijens
ses fiex orent assls ihen^alem, ke il assirent dedens Tan
ke iosep[h] fu mis hors de prison, si auint cose que
vaspasiens assaloit numlt durement. Car il estoit plains
de moult grant proueche & de grant hardement. Et uns
clers qui auoit este a lui baptisier, le counut, si li com-
mencha a crier : ' Ahi uaspasiens, desloiaus sarrasins &
puis crestiens renoies, pour quoi guerroies tu celui qui
te gari de la meselerie, & qui baptesme tu rechus ) ' A
cbe mot laissa vaspasiens a assalir qu'il H reprochoit
che que li clers auoit dit, & si le cacha bors de son lieu
grant piecbe. Mais cbe ne content pas les estoires dcs
empereours. Or repaire li contes la u vaspasijens se
part de iosepb & de iberusalem, ou il a la creancbe
recbeue.

JOSEPH LEAVES JEBU8ALEM, AND BEACHES &ARRA& 43

CHAPTEE in.

Of Joseph. How he converts his relatives and indaces them
to go with him. How they come to Bethany, and the
Wood of Ambush (p. 44). How he tells them not to care
for lodging. How our Lord speaks to him (p. 44). How
the people are miraculously fed. How they come to the
city of Sarras, whence the Saracens take their name. How
those are not to be believed who say that * Saracen * is
derived from Sara, Abraham's wife (p. 45). Of the
worship of the Saracens. How Grod commands Joseph to
preach to, and baptize, the inhabitants of Sarras (p. 46).'

tant se taist li contes de yaspasijen, ke il n'en

"A

parole plus j & si commenche de iosepL £t dist JoMph pmchet

to hit rolativea

ke ioseph enaoie querrQ tons ses parens & ses amis, & si audMend*,

lor anoncba la creanche ensi com nostTe sires Tauoit

eommajide. Si lor preecha tant de ihesvL crist qu*il en

conuerti .Iz. & xy. , dont il i auoit de teus qui estoient aadeonTertsTs

baptisie, Mais il estoient refroidie de la creanche. £t

li autre qui baptisie n'auoient este, Se fisent "niainte* [^laufQ.back,

nant baptlBijer. Lors s'en issi ioseph. de la chite entre xbey leav*

lui & sa compaignie, si estoit ia nonne passee. Et qw^nt JJI^*"* ^

il fa issus hois de la vile, si touma la uoie qui aloit

a efiErate ensi com nostie sires I'auoit commande. Et

quant il vint a bethanie, si commencha a auesprir. Et •ndnuh

. Bethany,

lors si li disent ses gens : '' Biaus sire, ou herbeigerons

nous ? se nous passons cheste uile nous ne trouuerons wiure thay want

to lodn.

humais ou herbergier." Et ioseph lor respondi:

" Signour frere & serors, or ne voiis esmaies mie. Car

diex li tons poissans pour qui amour nous somes issu JoMph mu them

de nostre naite,^ nous conseiUers. en tel maniere ke il ne wiu provide for

nous faudra ne osteus ne yiande. Mais gardes ke you«

ne Yau8 desesperes de sa grant misericorde. Car se yous

le voles loiaument seruir comme si crestijen, yostre cuer

' An illastration of Joseph preaching to sixteen of his
friends, heads this chapter.

' native land : ' car li sires por qui nos somes meu de no
pais.* — B, leaf 6, back, ooL 2.

44

JOSEPH GOES TO THE WOOD OF AUBUSH NEAR BETHANY.

They go on to
the Wood of
Ambush.

Ood's tpeech to
Joseph.

Hfs mercy to
the Jews ;
[* leaf 10]

their ingntitude
to him.

ne penseront riens au matin qiie voas n'aies ains la nuit.
Ke onques ne moustra tant d'amonr a nos peres el
desert com il moustra a nous se nous le seruons ensi
comme peres dolt estre semis de ses enfans. Mais se
nous le seruons comme fillastre, ausi cojnme nostre pere
le seruirent el desert, il ne nous fera mie comme peres,
mais C077im6 parrastres. Car il ne nous aidera pas,
anchois nous faura qt^nt nous arons grignour besoing
de s*aide."

A tant laissa ioseph a parler, si alerent tant ke il
vinrent a .L petit bos qui estoit a demie Heue de
bethanie, si auoit non li bos des agais. £t si estoit
apieles par chel non powr cbou que en cho bos fu
agaities herodes thetrarches q^^ant li iuis le liurerent a
rethe le roi de damas po2/r sa fillo ke il auoit laissie
quant il prist la feme philippe son frere. Quant il
furent venu a che bos, si apiela nostres sires ioseph, si li
dist : " Joseph, ie sui tes diex, tes sauueres, tes defen-
deres, chil qui ieta tes peres de la main pharaon a grant
signes & a grant demoustranches. Ie lor passai la met
rouge a sech, & les menai el desert *ou lor cuer auoient
qua72ke il yoloient desirer. lUuec me courecliierent il
en mainte maniere, a Tiaue de co/ztredit, & au ueel
qw'il firent pour aurer. Et ie toutes voies lor aidai &
defendi^ yiers toutes gens, tant ke ie mis tons lor
anemis desous lor pies. Onq2^«s poi^r chou ne se re-
corderent ke ie lor eusse b/en fait, ne plus uolentiers ne
m'en seruirent. Anchois me rendirent en la fin si felon
loiier qu'il me dampuerent el fust. Et se li pere m'ont
mau send, pour che ne harrai pas les fiex. Car ie veul
penitanche des pechies, & si n'ai cure de mort. Et pour
chou ke ie ne voel espandre ma misericorde sour les fiex
as felons peres, "pour chou t*ai eslcu a porter mon non
& ma creancho par les estranges tcn-es. Et si seras
guieres de grignour pule ke tu ne quides. & par toi
' MS aidrai et defeudrai : ' Sl iou li aidai.' — B.

A

JOSEPH HAS AN ARK MADE FOR THE HOLY GRAIL. 45

aront il m'amour & m'aide se il me veulent tenir a pere

& a Bigaour, Or va a to7i pule, & si le fai herbeigier JoMphiitoteU

en che bos, & il aront toutes les viandes ke il vauront th«^be

auoir, cascoins en son habitacle. Et anchois que tu isses S^^iwldf **

de cest bos, feras a m'escuele que tu as yne petite arche He {■ to make an

, J, , • J 1 . -r^ 1 . « ark of wood for

de lust en quoi tu le porteras. £t cnascun lour feres the orau-Diih.
uos afflictions de double genoil deuant chele arche, Ss
dires vos orisons pemr auoir Tamour de dieu uosiiQ
seigaour. Et quant tu vauras a moi parler, si ouuerras
Tarche en qiiel lieu que tu soies, si ke tu sens uoies
I'escuele ap^^tement. Mais ie ne yoel ke nus touche a
Tescuele ke tu sans plus, & iosephes tes fiex. Or t*en
ya, si atoume ton piQe, ^ si fai ensi com ie t*ai com-
mande."

tant s'en parti ioseph, & yint a son pule, si le fist The people ounp
berbergier par le bos, es ramees & es fuellies. Et
quant il orent lor ostez/^ fais, si alerent a orisons. Et
qftant il reuinrent d'orisons, si trouua cbascuns en sa loge
cbou qu'il desiroit a mengier. Tant mangierent & burent ■«<* «« m

^ mlnusuIouBly.

com eus plot, & furent si a 'aise. Au matin fist ioseph [*ieaf lo, coi.8]

faire Tarche, Si com nostrQ sires li auoit commando, & Joeeph ha« the
mist dedens Tescuele au sauueour. Et quant tons li

pules eut este a orisons deuant Tarche, Si com noatrQ ^^_^ ?th««Te.

sires li auoit commando, si uint deuant Tescuele au po"^*°n » "«ribe'a

sauueour. +Et quant tons li pides eut este a orisons They start fh>m

. . 1 "1 o ^**® wooil, and on

deuant rarche,T si s en partirent du bos, & entrerent en the iith day get

lor chemin. Si errerent tant par lor ioumees ke il vin-

rent a yne chite qui auoit non sarras ; ^ Si estoit entre samui, whence

the Saracens

babilone & salauandre.^ De chele chite issirent pre- oome;

mierement sarrasin, & de sarras furent il premierement

sarrasin apiele. , Ne ne sont^ pas a croire chil qui dient for they are not

^ *^ ^ caUed after Sara,

que sarrasin furent apiele de sarra la feme abraham. Abmham'e wife.
'Car che fu controuuaiile, ne raisons ne samble che pas
a estre.' Ne che n'est psis chose mescouneue, ke sarra
ne fust iuise, et ses fiex ysaac fu iuis ; & iuis furent chil
— ', •— » not in B, leaf 6, back, col. 3. • font. A, B,

46 JOSEPH AND HIS OOMPANT BEACH BARRAS ON THE 11™ DAT.

How Mahomet
was flent to savo
tho Saracens, but
daraneil himsvlf
and them.

Tlie otjccts of
worship of the
meo of Sarnu.

[* leaf 10, ool. 3]

God tells Joseph
to baptize the
people of Sams,

and He will give
him words to
•peak.

aud do miraclas
Iqr Ilia hands,

and keep and
defend liim
wherever he is.

ki de ysaac deecendirent. Car par la grignour partie
prent on le tout. £t puis k'il descendirent iuif de sarra,
dont ne samble il pas raisons ke li sarrasin pr^issent
lor non de li. Mais de chele chite qui auoit non sarras
furent apiele sarrasin, pour che que che fu la premiere
cliites ou iches gens p?*isent certainete de sauoir ke il
aouroient. Et la fu controuuee & establie la secte ke
sarrasin maintinrent puis iusc'a la uenue de mahoumet,
qui fu enuoies pour aus sauuer. Mais il dainpua soi
auant, Se aus apres, pour sa gloutemie. Car deuant che
ke la secte fust qui establie fu en sarras, n'auoient ches
gens nule certainete d'aourer. Anchois aourerent toutes
les choses qui lor plaisoient, si ke che qu'il aouroient .i.
lour n'auroient il pas a Tautre. Mais lors establirent il
a aourer le soleil & la lune & les autres planetes. En
chele citei vint ioseph Ss sa compaignie a Tonsime iour
qu'H issi de ihentsalem. Et qteant il vint a Ten'tree
de la vile, si Tapiela no^^res sires, & si li dist : " Joseph,
tu t'en iras en chele chite, si precheras mon non. Et
tons chiaus qui la creanche recheueront, si les baptiseras
el non del pere & del £11 et del saint esperit." Et lors
respondi ioseph : ** Sire, comment saurai ie si hten
preechier) ia ne m'e[n]tremis ie onquea de tel cose."
Et nostre sires li dist : " Ne t'esmaie mie de che. Car
tu ne feras ke la bouche ouurir, & ie metrai dedens
grant plente de paroles. Ke ia ne troueras home de si
grant scienche plain qui puisse durer as paroles ke ie
geterai hors de ta bouche. Et si te ferai pareil a mes
apostles par les miracles & par les uirtus ke ie ferai par
tes mains. Mais garde ke tu ne refroides de creanche.
Car tant com tu serras vrais creans, ne m^oseras tu riens
requerre ke tu n'aies a ton besoing. Ore t'en iia, & si
pense de ma besoinge si bien faire ke tu en soijes paies
eomme loiaus sergeins. Ke ia de manaches qtie tu oies,
ne soies peuereus. Car ie te garderai et de£fenderai en
quel lieu ke tu soies."

JOSEPH GOES TO THE KINO (eVALAOH) AND LORDS OF BARRAS. 47

CHAPTER IV.

How Joseph and his seventy-five disciples enter Sarras, and go
to the Temple of the Sun, to the seat of judgment, where
the wise men and E?a1ach the Lord of the city were
assembled to consult how to revenge themselves on the
Egyptians who had oyeroome them in battle. How
Joseph thanks Gk>d that he has come at a favourable time
(p. 48). How King Evalach*B counsellors advise that he
cannot oppose the Egyptians^ but must make peace with
t|iem. How Joseph promises the King victory and ever-
lasting joy, and tells him of the Saviour (p. 49). How
the King cannot understand that one who suffered death
can save him from death (p. 50).

Atant s'en parti ioseph, si entra en la chitei, entre
led et sa compaignie. £t quant li cytoien les
Tirent uenir tant ensamble — car il estoient .Ixxv. — & il
les yirent aler tous nus pies, si se meruellent ques gens
che pooient estre. Et ioseph ne fina onques d'aler par Joseph irocs to
la yile entre lui Ss ses desciples tant qu'il vint denant ihe son,
le temple an soleil. Et che estoit li plus haus temples
qui fast en la chite: & si le tenoient li sarrasin en
grignour honour & en grignour renerense ke tons les
antres, pour chou qu'il estoit temples qui est li plu^
haus de tous les planetes. En Tentree de chel temple '
si auoit ynes loges moult riches & moult bieles qui
estoient faites & establies a che ke li per de la chite i
tenoient lor plais & lor afaires. Et ches loges 'es- [• leaf lo, back]
toient apielees li siege des iugemens. En ches loges totbesoatof

Judgment,

entra ioseph, Ss li .Ixxv. ke ie vous ai dit qui estoient
en sa compaignie. Et vne moult grant tumulte du pule
sarrasinois les sieuoient, pour che que a grant meruelle
resambloient hien estrange gent, ne onqu68 mais si
diuerse n'auoient veue. Qz^ant ioseph fu entres es and finds a
loges, si trouua moult grant assamblee de sarrasins, & le or sanoena and
signour de la chite meismeo, qui estoit apieles eualach Evaiach the
li mescouneus. Et si estoit apieles li mescouneus pour " ^^^
chou ke nus horn de toute sa terre ne sauoit de que}.

48 TUE EOTPTIAKS HAVE SEIZED MOST OF KING EVALACH'S LAND.

OfKralMh't
pruwreas.

Bat, M he waa
old.

the E({]rptiana
had taken awaj
moat of bin laod,
and beaten hia
army ; and so ha
had anembled
his Council to
deviie renipeaaaa
on hia euemj.

Joseph ta glad
that be haa oome
at the time of
the king'a need.

[* leaf 10, back,
001.2]

Tlie Ck>anBelloT8
advise that peace
be made with
tlie Egyptiana,

t^rre il cstoit nes, ne de quel lieu il estoit venus, ne
onqi/es par nului n'e» auoient oi enseignes en la terre.
Mais il auoit este de si grant proeche ke il auoit par sa
cheualerie cowquise toute la terre iusk'en Tentree de
egypte. Et encore estoit il moult preus & moult corageus,
mais il estoit ia si vieus ke ses aages ne pooit mais
souffrir qu*il soustenist le trauail de porter armes. Si
n'cstoit mais tant redoutes ne tant cremus com il auoit
este en sa iouenche. Anchois le guerrioient li egyptijen,
si li auoient grant partie tolue de sa terre qui marcliis-
soit a aus. Et il I'auoient desconfit en bataille, Ss
cachie de plache, n*auoit mie encore .vij. iours passes.
Et pour cheste cose auoit il mande tons les sages homes
& tons les anchijens qui estoient en son pooir. Car il
leur en uoloit demander consel, comment il se porroit
vengier de la grant honte ke li egyptijen li auoient
faite.

Aches paroles yint ioseph, si entendi hien & oi ke
par hiena tenoient lor paroles de la desconfiture le
roi, & de sa mescheanche. Et quant il oi la uerite de la
cose, si en cut moult grant ioie. Car il se pensoit ke
ore estoit venue Feure & li tans ke sa parole porroit
estre oie & mise a oeure par le grant besoing *ke li
rois eualach a de I'aide nosfie signour. Si enco?n-
mencha a rendre g?'asces a son creatour de che qu*il
auoit fait uenir laiens a si boin point. Et quant li rois
eut parle a tous ses barons, si ni puet trouer point de
conseiL anchois li estoient fali tot en trauers, Et
disoient ke as egyptijens ne assambleroient il mais.
Car il auoient trop grignour forche ke il n'auoient, si
ne lor porroit se meskeoir non. Et hien i paroit, che
disoient, quVne fois lor en estoit il ia mes-auenu si
laidement ke il ne quidoient mie que iamiiis peust estre
amende. Ensi com uous poes oir, li falirent tout, Ss
dirent, ke tel pais co7n il peust, quesist vers les egj'pt-
ijens : car de la guerre ne s'oscroient il mie entremetre.

JOSEPH PROMISED EVALACH YIOTORT IF HE'lL BELIEVE IN GOD. 49

De cheste chose fu li rois moult esbahis et moult at which the king

espoentes, tant ke il ne seut qiie dire ne que faire.

Lors yint ioseph deuant lui. Ss quant 11 le vit si

tristre ' & si pensieu, si dist : '* Hois eualach, ne soies Jowph promitM

him victory, and

tu pas esbahis. Car se tu veus croire mon conseil, tu akoendiiMjqy.

aras ioie & oictoire de tous tes anemis, & conqt^rras

auoec chou vne ioie autre, qui iamais ne prendra fin."

Quant eualach Toi ensi parler, si le regarda moult fiere-

ment, & si li dist : " Qui es tu, ua, qui uictoire me Evaiach uki

J J . o ^ ' • . ^ . whoJowphit.

porroies douner de mes anemis, & la loie qui lamais ne
me fauroit?*' A chest mot respondi ioseph & si li
dist : " Tar foi, rois, chou ne te promet ie mie ke ie te
doinse la victoire ne la ioie perdurable. Mais tant te Jowph ny* that

^ . , . the king's victory

di ge btcn, que se tu uoloies croire mon consel, tu wiiibetheiriii

of the Almighty.

auroies & la victoire & la ioie sans fin, pour le don &
pour le grasce de chelui qui de toutes coses est pois-
sans.*' £t eualach li respondi, "Ie escouterai moult
uoloTitiers ques tes consaus porra estre. Mais se tu me
dis canael qui ne fache a otroijer, li damages en re-
toumera sour ton cors." Et ioseph li respondi : " Eois,
che sera tes consaus qui te sera a hounoiir de cors & a
•pourfit de Tame. Car tu en seras honeres a ton [♦ leaf lo, back,

col. 8]

viuant, & fame en sera sauuee aprcs ta mort. "Par
foi,'* che dist li rois, " Ichis consaus ne fait mie a refuser.
Or pues dont deuiser qu^ il sera. Car s'il est tens
com tu m*as dit, ie n*aurai ia home en ma maison qui
ie croie auant toi ; anchois seras creus de toutes coses ke
tu me vauras consillier.** " Rois,** che dist ioseph, " or Joeeph teiia

Evalach to

enten donquea comment tu seras couseillies. II te con- destroy hie
nenra tot p^'emierement destrurre & depechier les can neither help

. /^xj'i "L 1. J.' J' nor hurt any one,

y mages que tu aoures. Car tu dis ke che sont ti dieu,
et si lor demandes conseil & aie : et eles n*ont nul pooir
de toi aidier ne de nuire a autrui. Et tant saches tu
hien de voir que ti anchisour en ont tot este engingnie
& decheu. Car tout chil qui croient que ches ymages

' tristre is a known form, though the r is iuorganlo.
OBAAL. 4

60 EYALACH DOUBTS CHRIST'S POWER TO SAVE HIM.

lor pouissent aidier, sont perdu pe?'durablement pour
tnd no nun nfi^H £ soient pris au iour de la mort. Ne bus horn ne

should believa , '

io a bit of wood doit en chou metre sa creanche, ke vne pieche de fust

or itone, but in ,

Him who died on ne de piene ouuree par main d*ome le puisse trarandir

tiMCroMtOMTO r r r o

the world. de mort ne de mal. Mais celui doit on aourer, qui

souffri angoisse de le mort en la crois de son boin gi-e
& de sa boine volenti, pour sauuer le monde & pour
deliurer des perdurables paines d'infer." " Coumewt,"

SvBi««k*t doahu. che dist li rois, " me ueus tu dire ke cbil est poissans de
moi sauuer apres la mort, & de moi douner hounour
terriene, qui souffri angoisse de mort ensi com tu
meismes li tesmoignes 1 II ne me samble mie ke cliil
soit vrais diex, qui angoisse puet tant iustichier k*ele le

How cu one maine iusc'a la mort; ne il n*est mie auis qt^'il puist

himwif MTe estre uoirs, ne raisons ne samble che mie. Ke ie ne

anofchdrP

puis mie veoir comment chil mo garandisse de mort, qui
soi meisme n'en puet garandir. Car mauuaisement
sauuera autrui, cbil qui soi ne puet aidier." Lors li

Joseph expUini. rcspondi ioscph : " Eois, li sauueres du mont souffri si
r* leaf 11] deboinairement la mort, ke qu^ini li fans tes*moing des
felons iuis I'acusoient deuant pylate, & pylates meismes
li demandoit se ch'estoit uoirs ke il disoient, il ne
uoloit nul mot respondre encontre che que il disoient,
si qfie pylates s'enmerueilloit mowlt durement de che ke

EndMh'i farther il ne li uoloit Tcspondre." A chest mot respondi li

qneetioDa and •■ i .

jowph'a answers, rois, & si li dist : ** Or me di, biaus amis, vieus tu dire
a chertes et a uoir ke il soit diex pour che qu'il souffri
la mort en cheste maniere?" Et ioseph li respondi:
" ^ Kaie, dist il, powr che ne di ge mie qu'il fust diex,
ne pa?* che ne conquist il mie sa deite, anchois estoit
diex deuant tons les orages,^ & tous iours sera diex que
ia ses regncs ne prcndra fin^." Et li rois respondi :
" Coment me veus tu prouer, pot^r chou se il morut, ke
li mondes fust par sa mort sauues ? " " Che te con-

1 — 1 il est diex deuant ic apres tous les autres. MS 10,292,
leaf 6, col. 3. * ? aages.

JOSEPH TELLS EVALACH ABOUT CHRIBT'S MOTHER. 51

terai ie hien, dist ioseph, comme chil qui hien le saL
Ne ia, che saches tu de voir, ne te ferai riens entendant
ke ie ne saclie uraiement. Mais or escoute, si oras
comment il auint/'

CHAPTEK V.

Joseph tellB Evalach the story of Christ's Birth, Life, Death,
Descent into Hell, Resurrection, and Ascension, and his
sending the Holy Qhost to his disciples.

^** A V tans auguste chesar le boin empereour de
.Z\. rome qui tint TempiTe .xlij. ans, et garda la terre
si longement en fenne pais, au chief de xxv^j. ans apres
che qu'il eut este corones, auint qite diex enuoia son
angele en vne chite de galylee qui est apielee nazaretb, How God imt

hit Ang6l to the

a vne puchiele qui auoit non marie. Et quant li virgin Mary,

angeles vint deuant li, si li dist, '* Diex te saut, marie,

plaine de grasce, diex soit en ta compaignie. Tu es

benoite deseu*re toutes autres femes, & li fruis de ton c*iMfii,eoi.£]

uentre est beneois." Quant la pucbele oi la parole, si

en fa moult esbabie, & commencha a pourpenser de quel

maniere cbis salus pooit estre. Et li angeles li dist :

'' Marie, ne sois de riens esbabie. Car li sires du cbiel

t'a regardee et dounee sa grasce. Et si saches de uoir, who toid her

the ■bould

ke ta encbainteras, & si enfanteras .j. fil qui sera oonceweud

bear a child

apieles ihe^^^.^ Chil enfes sera de moult grant pois- who ahouid be

called Jesoa

sanche: Car 11 sera fiex diea." Et la puchiele re- chriat.
epondi : ''Biaiis sire, comment porra chou auenir? la
ne conui iou onquea home camelment." Et li angeles
li dist : " Marie, li sains esperis descendera en toi, & la
Tirtus dieu le haut en-umbr^ra dedens ton cors." Et
la puchiele respondi al angele : " Diex nostie sire facbe

' An illustration of Joseph discoursing to Evalaoh heads
tliis chapter. * MS ihc.

52

JOSEPH TELLS EYALACH ABOUT CHBIST'S BIRTH,

How the Spirit
d«Meended luto
her, and ehe
brought forth a
valiet who WM
oaUed Christ.

How S kings of
the Eaat come to
worship Christy
led by a star.

How Herod
kills 140,000
yoong ^ildren.

[•leafll,ool.8]

How the Yirgia
goes into Egypt,

and at Christ's
approach all the
images in the
temples fell
down and were
broken.

How at 80 he is
baptised, and
works great
miradce.

son plaisir de mi comme de a'anchiele, car ie sui ap-
parillie a son plaisii & a sa Tolente." Et maintenant
k*ele ot che dit, si descendi li sains espms dedens 11, &
si enchainta. £t quant ele ot le £ruit porte iusc'a son
droit tarme, si enfanta .i yallet qui fu apieles ihesus,
ensi com li angeles Tauoit dit Chil enfes fd de
si grant hauteche & de si grant pooir ke troi roi
d'orient le yinront aourer au tresime iour de sa natiuite.
Et si aporta casciins del plus cbier auoir qu'il puet
trouuer en toute sa t^rre. 'Ne onques n'i orent conduit
ne auoiement ke seulement vne estoile, qui aparut si
tost com il fu nes, ne onq^^^s mais n*auoit este veue.
Et qt^nt herodes (qui estoit roi de iudee) sent ke vns
tens enfes estoit nes qui serroit rois des iuis, si en eut
paour ke il ne le desiretast; si fist ochire tons les
enfjGuis de la t^rre de bethleem de .^'. ans & demi en
aual, Tant q?z'il en i eut ochis .c. miller & .xl. mile ; Ss
en cheste maniere se quida herodes uengier del enfant.
Mais li haus sires qui de tout est poissans sauoit hiexi
son mauuais pense, Si garda li soi meisme des mains as
felons qu*il ne porent a'uoir de lui bailie. Anchois
Tenporta la yierge puchiele sa mere en egyp[te]y & si i
demoura iusc' apres la mort herode par Tamonestement
d'un angele. Et quant il fu portes en egjpte, & il
commencha a entror en la t^rre, si fist si grant de-
moustranche de sa venue ke il n'eut temple en toute le
terre de egypte dont aucune ymage ne chaist a terre, &
debrisoient toutes de teus en i auoit. Iteus sinefianches
faisoit li urais dieus en sa petiteche. Et quant il fu
raportes de egypte, & il crut tant qu*il vint en aage
de .XXX. ans, si rechut baptesme, & lors co7nmencha il
a f aire les grans miracles en apiert. Car il rendoit as
auules lor veue. II garissoit les malades de toutes
enfermetes. II faisoit les contrais redrechier & aler
tons sains. II garissoit de si vil enfermete com de
meselerie. IL fasoit les sours oir cler. II faisoit

Christ's death, visit to hell, besurbeciion, and ascension. 53

les mors reuenir en vie. Iteus miracles faisoit tmtiMJewi

li vrais diex en apci't, uoiant toutes les gens. Et aiMipifla,

quant il eut ensi cure en maint liens & par maintes

fois, si en oient enuie li iuis. Si parlerent a .L de ses

desciples ke il prist d'ans .xxx. deniers, si le vendL

Et chil le prisent, si le crucefierent el fust. Et qt^ont "d cmdiy him.

Tame fd issue de son glorieus cors, si ala en infer, & si He goe* into

hell and relet

en ieta liors tons chiaus qui son seruicne auoient fait hieecrvuits,

en tere puis le commenchement du monde. Et quant

yint au tierch iour apres che q2/*il eut este mis el

sepulchre — car iou meismes Ti mis, & le despendi de la

crois — Si resuscita, & s'en issi del sepulchre tons en and hmb eijatn

. . . , the third day.

cors & en esprit. "Ne onques les gardes qui estoient
mises pour lui garder, ne le peurent si b/en gaitier qu'il
ne s'en issist. & si remest li sepuchres autresi fermes
com li iuif I'auqient laissie quant il Teurent fait garder.
Car il I'auoient mis desous vne moult grant pierre &
moult grosse : si fu trouuee en tout autrestel maniere
com ele i auoit este mise. Et quant- il fu resu*scites, [• leaf ii, back]

.. ' J. jf ' • • M. I. ' J. How Christ

si apparut puis mamtes fois a ses amis qui moult estoient appeared alter

dolent & esbahi de la mort de lui Et puis fist il "*^" **"'

deuant aus plusieurs miracles, par quoi il sauoient de

uoir ke H estoit vrais diex. Et qt^nt il eut este .xl.

iours en terre apres sa resurrection, si monta au quaran- and ascended

tisme iour el chiel, yoiant ses disciples. Et quant vint

a Tonsime iour apres chou ke il i fu montes, si lor

enuoia le saint esperit de la destre a son irrant pere andienttho

Holy Spirit to

glorieusy de'les qui il siet & sera perdurablement." his diMipies.

54

Xvalaeh aski,
* Had your God
a fiither and
moihar?

'Then he mint
have been born
of man and
woman.'

Jocej^tzpUlns:

[•lfll,bk,eol.8]
*Godwiw evUa
Inereaeeon
•arth.

CHAPTER VL

EvalaoVs objections to, and questions on, Christ's story.
Joseph answers, explaining why God sent Christ on earth
(pp. 54-5) ; in what sense he had a father and mother
(p. 5C) ; how there is also the Holy Ghost (p. 57) ; and
how the three persons are yet one God (p. 57). He tells,
too, of the creation of men to replace the Tenth Legion of
Angels, and of the Temptation and Fall (p. 58) ; of
Christ's taking flesh (p. 59), and how he went into and
came out of his moUier's womb without hurt to her
Tirginity (p. 59) ; how he was baptized and crucified, and
went into hell (p. 60) ; and how he took out of hell all
who had done his works during their lives (p. 60).

^ A chest znot respond! eualach, & si li dist:
jLjL ** Coment diua, tesmoignes tu donqt^es ke chil
dies qui tu tiens a si poissant ke tu I'apieles signour de
toutes choses, eut pere & mere 1 " " voirement, che dist
ioscph, testmoi[n]g iou, & di pour voir, ke il eut & run
& Tautre." " Et puis ke il eut, che dist eualach, &
pere & mere, dont ne nascui il mie sans assamblement
d'ome & de feme. Car de feme ne puet enfes naistre
se il n*est engenres dedens par acompaignemt^nt d'ome.
Et se enfes estoit en autre maniere concheus, che seroit
contie nature & contro acoustumanche." ''Bois, dist
ioseph, ie te mousterrai apertement & te ferai cou-
noistre comment il fu concheus sana nulle camel
compaignie. Et comment il nascui de la puchiele sans
le puchelaige maumetre ne empirier.** "Cheste pro-
uanche, dist li rois, escouterai iou moult volentiers.*'
** II auint chose, dist * Ioseph, ke li sauueres du monde
vit les maus qui mouteplioient en terre, & si vit ke li
Lien & li mal estoient tout vn de guerredon. Car
autresi hien aloit chil en infer qui tous iours auoit fait
hieiL, comme chil qui tous les maus auoit fais. Et li

* At the head of this chapter is an illumination, with the
title, " Ensi que iosephus & ses peres desputent de le fbi au roi
eualac.**

EVALACH DOUBTS JOSEPU's STORIES ABOUT CHRIST. 55

dons sires se pensa ke che n'estoit pas raisons ke li mal
fuissent parel as hio.na, ne li preiidom cowzparast la folie
aa mauuais. Si dist qu'il laiemberroit home de andttormeae

man from hell,

doleiiTS d'infer. Si prist son fil & si Tenuoia en t^rre Mnt His son to

T , . , , • . ftilffl all belong-

pour acomplir toutes les coses qui apartenoient a ing to man's

nature d'ome, fors qite pechiet seulement. Et quant °*"*'

il fu uestus de mortel char, pour chou ne laissa il mie but ho remaiaad

a estre diex si com il auoit tot/^ iours este. Mais il

prist chou qu'H n'auoit onques eu, che fu mortalites.

Et pour chou que li pere uit qw'il ne pooit raiembre The world conid

not be redeemed

tout le monde par .i. home qui fust samblans as autres, by a sinner,

pour chou i enuoia il son fil qui estoit quites & nes des

pechies dont tout li autre estoient entechiet et maumis.

Car il n'estoit pas raisons ne drois ke nus pechieres

lachataist les autres pecheours. Ke puis qu*il estoient

tout entechie, comment pooit ne deuoit garandir li vns

Fautre, ne deliurer 1 Mais pour chou ke li fieus dieu bo* »■ cbriet

was clean from

fu nes & mondes de tous pechies & de toutes uilenies, sin, he ooaid re-
deem men from

pour chou eut il le pooir de racater le pardurable mort etehiai death.*

del home par le mort de son precieus cors." " Pour

chou, dist eual£ichy ke ie ne te ting pour jure^, Car Evaiachdoes

not see it.

qi^ant tu m'as vne cose recounue & puis si le menoies

apres. Car encore tesmoignes tu de ton dieu, ke il a

pere, & si dis ke il ne fu pas engenres de camel comr

paignie. & che ne puet auenir, ne raisons ne verites ne

samble che mie.'' *^ Eois, dist ioseph, tu m'as en con- joeeph teiis him

uent ke tu m'escouteras a prouer co7;iment il puet itLr'his?im)r. °

naistre de char de feme sans assam'blement de char [*ifii,bk,ooi.8]

d*ome, & sans maumetre le puchelaige de sa mere qui

tous iours fu puchiele, & apres & deuant, & comment

il puet auoir pere sans estre engenres carnelment"

''Tout chou, dit le rois, doi iou escouter sans faille.

Et ie I'escouterai uolentiers, Se tu le me sauoies faire EvaUM^i thinks

. Joseph hardly

entendre. Mais tu ne sambles pas hom qui soit si leazned enough
durement fondes de haute clergie que tu peusses point,
prouuer cose qui si grant meruelle est a dire que elc est

56

JOSEPH EXPLAINS CHRIST 8 BEGETTING TO EVALAGH.

Jooepb utfM he
will flnt explain
how Christ had a
NUier.

God U called
Chrtat'B Father,

for he begat him
before the agea,
sot carnally
hot apfaitaaUj.

For Christ waa
not made, but
begotten of
apiritoal beget-
ting.

Hie birth brhia
mother waa of
[•leaf IS]
flesh; bat that
by his Father, of
apirit, and im-
mortal.

Of the Virgin's
Tiiglnity.

encontre nature et encontre acoustumanche, ne onques
maifl oie ne fu.'* "Rois, fait ioseph, ore m'escoute, &
ie te mousterrai comment il nascui de la pucliiele sans
camel compaignie. Iche te mousterrai, mais tu oras
auant comment il eut pere, qui fiex il fa sans camel
engenruxe. II est uoirs ke il est vns sens diex, chil
qui toutes choses fist de noient. Chil fu tous iours
diex, & diex sera tous iours. Car il n'eut onqi^cs comr
menchement, ne fin ne puet auoir a nul tans. Chil est
apieles peres, & ensi Tapielent chil qui sont urai creant.
Et ne pour q7/ant se il Tapielent pere, "pour chou ne
83nt il urai creant, Se il ne le croient de cuer ensi com
la bouche le diet. Car comment que la bouche paraut,
del cuer muet la boine creanche & la mauuaise. Ichil
diex si est apieles peres, pour chou ke chil de qui ie te
parole est ses fieus, car il Tengenra desdeuant le comr-
menchement de tous les aages. Et si ne Tengenra il
mie camelmenty mais espmtuelment. Ne li peres ne
fu onques fais no cries ne engenres, ne onquea ne
nascui. Ne li fiex meismes ne fu onqt^cs fais ne cries,
mais il fu engenres si com yous aues oi ke i'ai dit, de
Tespcritel engenrure. Et si fu puis nes de la y/rgene.
Mais chele natiuites ne fu mie selonc la dcite, mais
selonc Tumanite. Ensi pees entendre, & deues, ke la
natiuites de par sa mere fu faite camelment, mais *la
natiuites ke il eut de par son pere .fu esperitelment.
Chele de par la mere fu morteus. Car chele humanites
morut ke il pr/st dedens les flans a le yi^^e marie, de
qui il fist sa mere. Mais chele de par le pere fu per-
durable. Car chou ke il eut de par le pere ne souflfri
onques mort, cho est la deites qui ia ne li faura, anchois
durra tous iours sans prendre fin. Ore aues oi com-
ment li fiex dieu fu engenrea & nes del pere espcritel-
ment, & comment il fu nes camelment de la mere.
Aprcs oras comment li puchelages de la glorieuse
puchiele qui fu sa mere remest autresi sains apres

JOSEPH EXPLAINS THE TRINITY TO EVALACH. 67

eomme deuant, & autresi entirs aans maometre 8s sans

entamer. Mais ie yous dirai auant d'une persone qui But first of th*

de ches deus issi & qui est parelle et ingaus as autres

dens p^rsones. Che est li sains esp^ris. Ichil sains

espeyia ne fu onqusQ fais, ne cries, ne engenres par le

pere ne par le fil. Mais il est issus & de Tun & de

Tautie. Chil sains esperis est conforteres, & ca/isiUieres, who in the com-

& espuigemens des cuers & des pensees. Chil sains Purioer,

esperis faisoit as prophetes^ parler che ke il disrant de who made the

dieu, & si ne sauoient ke il disoient, nient plus ke li '

horn forsenes porroit &iTe estables les paroles qui li

nolent hors de la bouche. Toutes ches coses ouuroit li

sains esperis en aus. & qui urais creans est, il croit &

aouie le saint esperit autresi com le pere & le fil. Li and who i« wor^

/. . ,. • o • «. • 1 ihlpped like the

pores est parfaus diex par soi, & si a parfaite deite en- Father and son.
terine & perdurable sans fin et sans eommenchement, & perfect ood,
de toutes choses est poissans. Li fieus autresi est par- though be^ the

j»»j*o Jiip'i 1 Father aa to

fais diex & perdurables, & si est paraus au pere ; sclonc ua manhood;

Tumanite est il 'plus bas ke li peres. Mais li fiex

selonc Tumanite est morteus. Li sains esperis est par- and the Holy

fais diex en soi meisme^ & selonc la deite est tons ood;

paraus au pere & au fil. Ensi est li peres diex, & li

fiex dieus, & li sains esperis diex. Et ne pour quant il bnt they are

...J. ^ , ., . ±_ ' not three Goda,

ne sont mie troi dieu. Car pour chou se il sont trois [*ieafi2,coLt]

choses en pe7'soneSy pour chou ne sont il pas troi dieu,

mais yns tons sens. Car soit che qi^e li peres & li ^ex bat one God,

& li sains esperis soient trois persones, ne pour quant

si ne sont il ke vne seule chose en nature et en deite &

en poissanche. Car autresi poissans est 11 peres com one in nature.

_. Of' • ' -w^ • •!• ffodhead, and

est 11 fieus & Il sams espens. Et autresi grans est li power.
fieus en deite com est li peres & li sains esperis. £t aii equally great
d'autrestel grandeche est li sains esperis com est li peres
& li &ex. Ensi uienent ches trois persones d'un seul
dieu, & a yn seul dieu repairent ches trois persones. &
autrestant puet li une comme les trois, ne les trois ne
' faiBoit les apostles parler. — B, leaf 6, baok, col. 3.

58

JOSEPH TELLS EVALAGH OF THE CBEATION OF MAN,

Tlie three ara
called the
Trinity, end
the one Unity.

How God laid,
' Let us make
men in oar
imaffe, after
oar likenees,'

and called th«
Bon to make eo
high a thing aa
man to replace
the tenth legion
of angels.

sent autre chose naturelment ke vne. Clies trois p^-
Bones apielent li vrai creant, triiute ; & le seul dieu
apielent il unite ; Ss si aourent les trois pe7'80iie8. Ches
trois p^rsones furent men/It bien lamenteus au com-
menchement du monde quant li peres cria toutes
clioses, car 11 dist 'Faisons home a nostre ymage, a
nostTQ samblanche.' Cheste parole dist li peres a son
chier fil. Car il sauoit hien, comme chil qui toutes
choses a deuant ses iex, ke li fiex soustenroit encore
angoisse de mort pcmr homme racliater des grans
doleurs ou il cairoit par son mesfait. Pour che apiela
li peres la persone del fil a faire si haute chose comme
li horn deuoit estre, qui il ne voloit fourmer ne estffblir
ke souleme/^t pour restorer la disime legion des angeles
qui estoit cheu du chiel par son oi^el. Et quant li
How, when man hom eut trcspasso le co77imandoment de son creatour

was cast oat of

paradise, a hard del fruit que il manga par ramonestfemlent de la feme

saying was , ,

spoken to him. qui li dyables dechut, si fu maintenant jetcs hors de
paradis, & si li fu dite vne moult felenesse parole. Car
ses sires qui Tauoit fait a sa samblanche, li reproua la
grant aaise ke il auoit p^ue par son mesfait, & 11
nouma le grant damaige qu'il en auroit car 11 li dist :

[•leaf 18. col. 8] * Pour chou ko tu as *plus obei a ta feme ke le t'auoie

God's curse on , - . . ^ . , ^

Adam and men douec, ko a moi qui t'auoio fait, pour chou souncrras
tous lours mais tel paine, & tu <fe ti oir, ke Yotis man-
geres vo^^re pain en trauail & en suour.' * Et tu/ dist
11 a la feme, * enfanteras ta porteure en tristeche & en
doleur.' Cheste promesse a moult b?'en rendue a tous
cheus q?/i d*omme sont puis issu.^ Car nus n*er*terra la
en chest siecle, tant soit de grant poissanche, qui la
solt deliures de traual & de paine des ichele eure ke 11
s*en 1st. Ne la feme n*l enfantera a si petit de dolour
k'ele n'en soustienge plus ke ses cuers ne porroit penser
ne sa lange dire. Et tant durement ont achate le
pechiet au premier home, si oir qui de lui sont issu, ke
ceste promesse a il hien maintenue a tous oeaus qui el monde sont — B.

and on Eve and
women.

How really the
curse has been
fhUnied.

OF CURIST^S BIBTH FROM A TIRGIN-MOTHSB, TO RESCUE lUN. 50

il n'i eat onquea chelui, tant fesist bi^nfait en sa vie,

ke rame de lui n'en alast en infer si tost comme ele

partoit du cors. Tant que li ^ex dieu ne vaut plus To iwem mm

soofifrir cheste grant doleur, si descendi en tene poui chritt deMtnded

cliou ke il Yoloit Tome metre hors de la grant male

auentnre que il soustenoit pour son mesfait. Si nit que

ore auoit il asses compare son outrage, & ke hiea estoit

de[s] ore mais tans Ss eure ke il le rapelast en pite &

en misericorde. Et quant il fu en terre descendus, il mdwhwithiri

ne le uoloit pas maintenant aler qtievre en infer, &

traire hors a forche, sans raison moustrer. Anchois

entra ponr lui en vne chartre qui mcn^lt estoit escarse & mttni a stnit

and narroir

estroite a herbergier si haut nome & si riche eomme priM>n,
chelui qui estoit sires de toutes choses. Che fu li theTirgin'i

womb;

uentres de la puchele ou il se herberga. Apres, quant

il eut este en chele chartre .ix. mois en prtson, si s'en and waa there

nine montba, and

issi a droite eure de naistre, ensi comme Tumanites le then came oat;

reqz/^roit. £t ne pour quant de tout en tout ne fu il

mie eoncheus ne nes si com humanites requiert.

Humanites requiert sans faille, ke horn naisse, & ke

il soit concheus. & en cheste maniere acomj>li *il c* leaf 12. bade]

but not, as

humanite, d'estre concheus & de naistre. Mais hu- humanity needa,

manites requiert plus. Ele requiert ke horn naisse en mitow and
doleur & en tristeche, & ke il soit camelment concheus ^"'^ '

d'omme Ss de feme. En cheste maniere n'acompli il

mie humanite. Car il ne fu mie concheus par assam- imt by the orer-

ahadowing of

blement d'ome & de feme, Mais par Taumbrement del the Holy Qboet,

through the ear

saint esperit qui descendi par Torelle de la puchele of the virgin.

dedens le glorieus vaissiel de son beneoit uentre. En

chelui vaissiel ke li e&ins esperis vint purefijer, se HowChriefa

^ x- J » birth li^ured

horberga li fiex dieu. & si nascui si sagement ke onques not the virginity
li puchelages de sa gloneuse mere n en fu maumis, ne a aa a sunbeam

... J hurts not the

Tentrer ne a Tissir. Mais tout autresi com li rais du dear water.
soleil luist parmi la clere iaue si qu*il est ueus iusc*au
fons, sans che qu^il ne desoiure mie les ondes de Tiaue
ne ne depart, anchois remaint autresi clere & autresi

60 JOREPH DIBOOTTIIBBS OK CHBIST'S CONCEPTION AND LIFE.

biele com ele a deuant este, Tout autresi entra li fiez

die a dedens le uenire de la puchiele sans son puclielage

The three duhr- maumelie HO empirier. £t en son concbeuement si eut

ence« between ... . . • • , • ^ .

the cunoeptioa .iij. maniBies qiu ouques mais oies nauoient este en
men. concheuement d'omme & de feme. Car 11 fu tout

1. itwMwith- p7'0mierement concbeus sans pecbie. Cbe est la pre-
t. Without carnal miere maniere. L'autre maniere si est, qu'il fu con-

aasembling. <• | i, t -a.

cbeus sans camel compaignie, ne cue n auoit onqti^s
s. Hia mother este ol. La tiercbe maniere fii de cbou ke sa mere ki

did not loee bar

Tirginitj, pucbiele estoit, ne pierdi onqt^as son pucbelage, ne au

concbeuoir ne au naist}*e. Ancbois le laissa cbil qui
Teslut a estre sa mere autresi saine & autresi entierre

or aoflSir Sra'a com il Tauoit trouee. Et a son naistre fu depicbie la
maleicbons qui fu faite a la premiere feme q7iant il li
fu dit * tu enfanteras ta porteure en doleur.' Car il

ibrtheUrfh nascul si saiutemeut ke onqt^es sa mere n'en eut ne
doleur ne angoisse. Icbes manieres meruilleuses aporta
li fiex dieu, & a son concbeuoir & a son naistre. Et

[*ififl,bk,eoi.t] quant H fu nes, pour cbou ne *vaut il mie tantost

How chriat lived racbater Tomme ke il estoit uenus qt^erre, ancbois

SS yeara on earth, , i. p t.i v

demoura xxxij. ans en terre, & conuersa en samblancne

d'ome auoec Ics autres bomes. Et quant yint au cbief

and at w waa de XXX. ans, si recbut tons premiers nostre sauuement.

baptized

Cbe fu baptesme. Car il se fist baptisier a vne bome

qui il porta tesmoing ke il estoit li plus bans vers dieu

qui onques nasqtiist de feme desflourie. Cbe fu Bains

by St John the Jebans baptistcs. Et quant vint au tiercb an apres

yeara after, died, SOU baptisement, si souffii angoisse de mort. Car il

uoloit aeomplir toutes les coses qui apartenoient a

bumanite, fors seulement pecbie. Et quant il eut

souffiert si grant angoisse comme de mort pour Tamour

and went down de homme, si en ala en infer il meismes, & si en traist

into hell.

HowChritt trestous cbiaus & trestoutes cbeles qui ses oeures

reacned the doera . . i» -. i • o* i. — i.

ofhiiworka auoient faites en lor vies. Si grant amour moustra
diex a Tomme : car il ne le vaut onq?^es racbater des
doleurs ke il 80u£Croit par antrui mort ke par la soie

EYALACH TELLS JOSEPH THAT HE TALKS PLAIN UNREASON. 61

Ore pees auoir entendu comment il eut pere sans camel Joseph mma

up hia speech.

eng^nrement, & comment il nasqui de feme sans eomr
paignie d*ome, & comment il nasqui de la puchiele sans
son puchelage maumetre ne empirier."

CHAPTER VIL

Part 1. How Evalach remarks that Joseph has been say-
ing just what he likes, and nothing which looks like
truth. Joseph answers and confounds the doctors of the
city (p. 62). How Evalach sends for Joseph's compan-
ions, and how Joseph's son tells the king why they go
barefooted (p. 62-3). How Evalach lodges Joseph and his
company (p. 63).

Part 2, p. 63. How Evalach in his bed thinks about the
defence of his country, and the Trinity and the Virgin's
virginity (p. 64). How he sees a vision of three trees, of
which the middle one, with an ugly bark, bleeds when cut^
and jumps out of its bark, and then into it again (p. 65) ;
and how washing in its blood changes men's forms (p.
65) ; and how some of the tree's roots and leaves are
pluckt and burnt (p. 65). How Evalach tells his vision
to a chamberlain ; and they see three writings on the trees,
* This creates,' * This saves,' * This purifies * (p. 66) ; how
the three trees are truly one (p. 67). How the king and
his chamberlain see a child pass and repass through a
lockt door in a wall (p. 67) ; and a voice tells the king —
this is a type of the Miraculous Conception of Christ (p. 68).

LOrs parla eualach & si dist : '' Tu me fais enteTui- Evalach thinks
.. , . Joseph's aayinga

ant vnes coses ke nus ne porroit metre en uoir, ne en neither troe nor

nule maniere ne samble raisons. Car tu dis ke il ne fu ^ '

pas engenres en la feme dont il nascui, & ke ele estoit

pucbiele, ne onq2^es ses puchelages n'en empira. Apr^s

me dis, ke li peres & li fiex & li sains esperis ne sont

ke yns sens diex, & si est chascuns d'aus .iij. diex par

soi." " Lore, dist ioseph, tu Tas bien recorde ensi com

ie le t*ai dit, & ensi le tesmoigne iou hien encore."

"Par foi, dist li rois, tu tesmoignes chou ke tu ueus. he has said what

he likes.

Maitf tu ne dis nule cose qui par samblant puisse estre
noire." A tant fist li rois enuoier qt^erre tons les cleis

62

JOSEPH CONFOUNDS THE LEARNED SARACENS.

[• leaf 12, tack,
col. S]

The learned of
the dty come,
and Joseph oon-
founds Uiem.

Evalach a»ka
Wliy he ia
named Joseph of
Arimatbea.

Evalach pro-
misee to honse
Joseph, and to
hear him next
day.

Joseph tells him
he has 75 com-
panions who for
the love of Christ
have Kiven up all
earthly wealth.

Evalach desiree
to see these
companioni.

and asks them
why they suffar
such hardships.
Josephes (Jo-
seph's son) says,
* ftir the love of
Christ,

[* leaf IS]

*de la cliite. & quant il fuient tout uenu, si commencha
ioseph a parler a aus si durement, & traioit si auant
tous les fors mos des escriptures, ke chil s^en esba-
hissoient tout, et disrent en la fin ke il ne li respon-
deroient mais deuant I'endemain. £nsi se departi
Tassamblee, & li rois apiela iosepb, & si li demanda
comment 11 estoit apieles iosepb de arimatbie. Et
li rois esgarda les pies qu^il auoit nus, si les yit
moult biaus et mout blans, si li sambla meruelles hien
bom qui eust este a grant aaise, & soupecbounoit
dedens son cuer ke il fust de baute gent nes, si Yen
prist moult grant pites. Lors Tapiela, & si li dist :
" Iosepb, ie te ferai berbergier anuit mais, & si aras
pour toi aaisier tout quanke deuiseras de boucbe. Et
demain parleras a moL Car ie t'ai anuit moult
uolentiers escoute, & plus yolentiers t'escoutcrai iou
demain, car ie serai de grignour loisir que ie n^ai bui
este." " Sire, cbe dist iosepb, ie ne sui mie sens en
cbeste vile, ancbois i a en ma compaignie en-cbore .Ixxv.
ke bommes ke femes. Et si sacbies de voir, ke il n*en
i a vn ne vne qui pour Tamour ibe^u crist n'ait laissies
toutes les t^rrienes licboises. Si me vont siewant sans
or & sans argent, ensi pourement com vous me poes
veoir. Mais ne pour quant se il vont ensi pourement,
pour cbou ne meurent il mie de faim ; ains sont il assase
de la rikecbe au glorieus signour en qui il croient, ke
lor cuer ne desirroient nule viande terriene dont il
n'aient a lor volente." Lors dist li rois ke il les voloit
veoir, & iosepb les apiela de bors la ou il estoient
areste, si les fist venir deuant lui. Et quant li rois les
vit venir tous nus pies & si pourement vestus, si en eut
moult grant pite selonc sa creancbe. Si les apiela, &
lor demanda pour quoi il soufiroient si grant peni-
tancbe, d'aler nus pies & d'estre vieument vestu &
pourement. Lors li respondi li fiex iosepb, qui estoit
apieles ioscpbes, *et si li dist: "Eois, nous soufTrons

josEPHEs, Joseph's son, speaks to evalach op christ. 63

clieste petite penitanche powr ramour del glorieus fil
dieu, qwi si grant & si aBgoisseuse le souflfri pour nous,
ke il en eut tresperchiet le cors & les membres si
nieument & a si grant honte comme chil qui fu de-
trachies & mesames et cruchefijes en mi lieu de deus who was eind-
larrons. & tout chou souffri il pour nous de son boin t^SlTv^
gre & de boine volente. En quel seruiche li porriens
nous mieus lendre qui peust che seruiche guerredouner.
Se nous notis souffriemes a crucefijer autresi com il fist
soi, ne rauiiemes nous pas guerredone asses, car il com-
mencha. La bontes commenche du plus haut au plus
bas, ch'est de dieu a home. II est hien drois k*ele li for whom we
soit guerredonee a double. Ensi nous conuenroit morix twice over.*
deus fois pour lui se nous li voliens sa bonte guerre-
douner. Chertes, moult seroit de boine eure nes qui
cent fois porroit morii*, & cent fois morroit, par con-
uent ke sa mors fust au plaisir & a la uolente del
glorieus signour, <& ke il tenist sa bonte a hien guerre-
donee." Qi^nt li rois oi chelui si hien parler, si KraTMh aak* who
demanda a ioseph qui il estoit, & comment il auoit non.
Et ioseph li dist, " sire, il est mes fiex, et si est apieles
iosephes." Et il demanda se il sauoit de letres. Et
ioseph li respondi ke il en sauoit tant que nus clors de
son cage n'en pooit plus sauoir, & si parloit si hien et
si beel com il auoit oi. Lors apiela li rois vn sien ThekinKhu

Joeeph end hie

seigant, & si li command& que il herbergast ioseph el compaiiione noU/

plus aaisie ostel de la mle, et si gardast ke il ne li fausist oigut,

nule riens, ne a lui ne a sa coT/ipaignie. Ensi depar-

tirent chelui iour, si en fu menes ioseph & sa com-

paignie a .i. mo?dt riche ostel & moult aaisie, si orent a

chele nuit a grant plente de moult boines viandes, & si and the beds

ere very good.

orent moult boins lis ke il auoient tant longement
desirres. Car il n*auoient geu en lit onques puis ke il
auoient este meu de lor osteus.

FilI *chi laisserons de ioseph & de sa compaignie, [•ieefis,ooi.t]

^ ■* ... -. Bvelechlnbed

& si Y0U8 dirons del roi eualach qui gist en sa cambra ia tronbied with

two tbottyhU :

64 eyalach's meditations in bed; his vision of three trees.

1, how to deftnd
his land;

2, of what Joseph
had told him.

and how tho
Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost
were three, and
yet one ;
and how the
Tirgin had
bonie a child
withoat losing
her virginity.

Eralach's vision.
He sees the stock
or a tr«e, whence
spring three equal
trunks,

the middle one
having an ugly
bark.

Under the first
trunk are many
people; two go
to A ditch

C* leans,ool.8j
and Jump into It;

moet of the others
follow them and
Jumpm too;

moult pcnsieus, & mot^lt entrcpris do deus pensees. li
premiers est, de sa terre desfendre encontre les egyp-
tijens qui moult durement li auoient gastee sa terre, et
lui meisme desconfit & cachie de la plache. Do chesti
pense estoit il si entrepris que en nule maniere il n*en
sauoit ke faire. Anchois auoit moult grant pear ke il
ne perdist & sa terre et toute s'ounour terriene, par che
ke si baron li estoient tout faillL D'autre part estoit
si pensis de che que ioseph li auoit dit, que il le feroit
venir au deseure de tous ses anemis, & ke il li feroit
gaaignier la grant ioie qui ia ne prenderoit fin, so * il
voloit son consel croire. Mais nule riens, tant i pensast
durement, ne li pooit faire entewdre comment li peres
& li fiex & li sains esperis estoient trois persones, & si
n'estoit c'une seule cose. Et si ne pooit croire ke la
Ytrge east concheu & enfante sans son puchelage
maumetre. Iches deus seules choses ne li pooit nus
faire entendre ne counoistre. Endementiers ke il pen-
soit a ches deus cboses counoistre & apercheuoir, primes
a Tune & puis a Tautre, si li auint vne auisions, ke U
yeoit en mi lieu de sa maison la choke d'un grant
arbre. Mais il ne pooit ape^-cbeuoir ques arbres c*estoit,
ne de quel nature. De chele choke naissoient .iij.
ieton moult grant & moult droit & moult haut. & si
estoient tout .iij. d'un grant & d'un gros & d'une
maniere, Ne mais itant ke li moiens estoit couuers
d'une laide escorche oscure, & li autre doi Fauoient
autresi clere comme cristaus. Desous le premier ieton
a destre si auoit gens de toutes manieres. & de ches
gens s'en departoient doi de la compaignie, si s'en
aloient iusc'a vne fosse qui estoit vn peu loing. Et
quant il venoicnt a la * fosse, si saloient dedens. La
fosse estoit si laide & si noire que nus n'en porroit tant
dire qu'il n'en j eust encore plus. Quant chil doi
estoient dedens, si eonuenoit a fine forche que tout li
autre alaissent apres, & il i aloient tout & saloient ens,

evalach's vision of the trinity-trees. 65

li vns apres Tautre, sans chou ke nus n'en repairoit.
£t quant il en i eut tant sail ke la menre partie fu
lemese, Si uinrent li vn de cheus qwi remes furent, Si
coumrent a Tarbre qui auoit la laide escorche, si le but Mme nin to

. - the ugly-barked

commencnierent a decauper tout enuiron ; & quant il tree and chop u

eurent chou fait, il ne s'en vaurent pas a tant soufirir,

anchois le perchoient a tareles en .iiij. brankes qui i

estoient. Et qt^ant il Torent ensi mehaignie ke des

plaies ke il li eurent faites enuiron, ke des pertuis^

que il li orent fais as tareles, si en issi vns si grans a great etnam of

.* <■ iij.1'1 ••i*j.f t blood fiowv oat.

ruissiaus de sane, ko tot chil qui i estoient si peussent
baignier ; Tant ke il pecboia. & quani il fu cbeus, si
n'i remest onqt^es riens de lui en la plache, fors ke andieareatbe

bark, bat the

seulement Tescorcbe de bors, qui remest illuec tout en fraitjampeinto

the ditch :

.i moncbiel. Mais li fruis dedens qui estoit plus hisMS

& plus clers ke ie ne vous sauroie conter, fist si grant

saut au kaoir que il se lancba iusqu^ dedens la fosse

ou les gens estoient cbeues. Et quant li rois se regarda, tbe tree jumiM

si uit Taibre lancbier bors de la fosse, & si entrainnoit drng^ring much'

apres lui moult grant partie de la gent qui dedens la

fosse estoient, & se tenoient as rains & as brankes

enuiron. Apres cbou reuenoit li arbres en son lieu, & md get* into its

bark again, and

si se reuestoit de Tescorcbe ke il auoit deuant eue, mais becomea bright

and shining.

ele uiuoit toute, & deuenoit si clcre & si resplendissans
que nus bom qui deuant Teust esgardee ne peust
quidier ne croire ke cbe fust ele. Apres esgarda li TheWngieee

some of the peo-

rois, si uit ke vne partie des gens qui estoient remes de pie wash their

. , . . bodioB with Uie

salir en la fosse, prenoient le sane qui estoit a terre biood in the
ooules, si en lauoient le cors. Et maintenant qu'il s*en them-
estoient laue, si cangoient tout leur samblancbes *et lor C* leaf i8,backi
lunires. Et Tautre partie prenoient les rains de Tarbre the other* cot off

^ * * branches and

A lea fuelles, si en decaupoient vne partie & en leaves from the

tree

ardoient. (Jbeste meruelle esgarda li rois moult longe-

ment, & de la grant meruelle que il en auoit fu si and bum them.

esbabis, que il quidoit tout uraiement dormir, & ke cbe

' MS pertxuB,
ORAAL 6

66 THE INSCBIPTIONS ON THB TRIKITT-TRBES OF EVALACH's VISION.

Ht thinka U moit

Imt flodi he if
iwUjawakt^

•ndtorooMiA
tnuiworthy

■ad Bhovt bim

Mid tella him not
tofrarj

AiidtakMthd
etndln bj bia
bed to look Bt th«

. R« leef tbers tn
thne, and that
tha ngly-barkad
one apringa oat
of thaflnt, and
the third flroni
the other two ;
and that on tha
llnti%<Thia
oreataa,' on tha
aeaondf'Thia
aavaa,' on tha
third, 'Thia
pnriflea.'

[•IfU^bk,oaLS]

fust Bonges ke il veoit. £t quant il eut moult longe-
ment este en chest qoidier, a. se touma A retournay &
aperchut^ Ss sent uiaiement qu6 il neilloit, & que il ne
Bongoit mie. Et lors fu il asses plus esbahis que il
n'auoit deuant este, & plus s'esmerueiUa asses quel
merueille che pooit estre. £t quant il i eut grant
pieche pense, si esueilla .L sien camberlenc qui gisoit
deuant lui, en qui il se fioit moult. Si se pensa ke a
chesti seul mousterroit s'avision, & ke ia autres ne le
n^rroit que il peust. £t quant il Teut esuiUie moult
coiement, qu^ li autre ne Toissent qui gisoient entour,
si le traist d'une part, & si le mena iusques pres des
arbies. £t chil, quant il les yit, si durement fu
esbahis qu6 il ne pent onqi^es parler d'une moult grant
pieche. Quant li rois eualach le vit si durement
esbahi, si le prist par le main, & si le coTnmencha
moult a conforter, & dist ke il n'eust mie paour, car de
chou ne li pooit nus maus uenir. Lors se traist il
meismes vers sa couche, A pn'st les cbierges qui
ardoient deuant son lit, & si les aporta par deuant les
.i\j. arbres pour esgarder & pour counoistre de quel
maniore il pooient estre. Mais tant connut il hien que
il estoient troi, & que li moiens, qui auoit eu le laide
escorche, naissoit del premier. £t li tiers si issoit & de
Tun et de Tautre. £t li rois esgarda en haut,isi uit en
cascun des arbres letres escrites, les vnes d'or, A les
autres d'asur. Et si disoiont les letres del premier
arbre : '* Chist forme." Et li arbres secons auoit letres
qui disoient : " chist sauue." Et les letres del tierch
arbre disoient : " Chist purefie." Et quant li rois se
regarda, si uit que tout li *troi arbre uenoient a vne tige,
& ke ele estoit si soutieus, que nus n'en peust demser
le commenchement, tant durement i auisast. Et si
estoit la tige si haute que nus hom, tant eust clere
esgardeure, n'en peust mie la fin veoir pour nule paine
qu'H i mesist. Mais tant estoient soutil li enlachemcnt

EVALACH's vision 07 A LIKENESS OF CHRIST'S CONCEPTION. 67

des trois arbres que quant il estoit au roi auis ke il oust
deoises tous trois uraiment, & C07ineu Tun del Tautre,
Apres li estoit auis qu'il n'i yeoit ke une seule maniere
de fuelleSy & de fust, A de fruit, & ke li troi arbre
qu'il auoit auant deuises en trois coses n'estoient c'une The tiirw trcM

AM truly one.

seule chose ore en droit. Ensi desdisoit chou qu'il

auoit deuant iugie, 8i en estoit si esbahis qt/*il ne se

sauoit a quoi tenir. Endementiers qu'il pensoit a The king u con-

cheste memelle qu'il ne pooit eonnoistre du tout en

tout, Si regarda vers vn mur d'une siewe cambre dont He look* at a

■ecret door ot

li huis estoit de marbre, seeles dedens le mur si soutieu- muue,

ment qu'a paines peust estre apercheu ke il i eust huis

ne entree, tant i seust on esgarder ententieument. Ke

il meismes ne quidoit mie ke nus de sa maison le seust

ke il tout seulement. Et quant il regarda vera Tuis, si

vit ke vns petis enfes estoit dedens, qui moult estoit & wd eeee a imie

^ , ^ cbUUwhohae

biaus & blons. Et si entroit en tel maniere ko li huis oome through <t

J. A V • 'J. . ' without iU opau-

n ouuroit ne tant jie qi^nt, Anchois remanoit autresi ing.

seres & autresi clos com il estoit deuant chou qr/il i

entrastb Et quant il eut yn peu demoure, si reuint and goes back

through It also.

hors isnel le pas tout autresi com il i estoit entres sans
Tuis ouurir^ ne onques n'i parut eu nule maniere qu'il
i fust entres ne issus. Et quant li rois yit cheste
chose, si fu asses plus esbahis de cheste meruelle qu'il The king wonden

•till more.

n'auoit este de toutes les autres. Car il ne quidoit ke
diex ne autres peust dedens si fort mur entrer qu'en
aucune maniere n'i parust. Lors co7nmencha moult
dure*ment a penser li rois, & ses camberlens qui estoit [*ifis.bk,coi.s]

The chamberlain

auoec lui estoit si esbahis & si peureus qu'il n'osoit iie* on the ground

mot dire de la bouche, anchois gisoit tous estendus a

tern autresi que se il fust tous mors. Et li rois yint a

lui & si le leua pa?- la main destre en haut, & si li dis^

se il auoit toutes ches meruelles yeues, & ke il Ven

estoit auis. Et chil regarda le roi si com il pent. Et

q7iant il eut le pooir de parler, si li dist : "A, sire, butatiartepeaka

. x- » to the king.

merchi, ne me metes plus en parole de nule chose.

68 EVALACH's wonders OVBB the miraculous conception of CHRIST.

mais menes moi en tel lieu que ie ne Toie autresteus
memelles eomme ioix ai veiies. Car ie ne poTToie yiure
en niile maniere potir que ie les veisse.'* A tant Ie
pnst li ToiSy si renmenoit en vne cambre pour faire
Th«kinff keeps couchier. Et toutes uoies aloit pensant a la menielle

thinking of th*

wond»ofUM ke 11 auoit yeue del enfant qui ensi estoit entres en la

cambie, & issus. Ensi com U aloit pensant & m^ruel-

lant dedens son cuer comment clie pooit estre auenu, si

AvoiMteiuhim oi YRB Yois qui dist : "Eualach, de quoi te menielles

of Um MineoioQi tu f autiesi comme li enfes est entres dedens ta cambre

Chriai. uoians tes lex, et com il en est issus aneie sans) luis

ouuiir ne depicbier, autresi ent}*a li salueres du monde

dedens Ie uentre de la uiige sans son pucbelage enpirier

TiMiMopuinthe ne maumetre, & autresi s'en issL" Quant li cambar-

palsoe art terrified ,.,.,, . . . ,.,

BfethenoiMori&e Isns 01 la Tois parler, lors parent si grant paour quu
ne se pent ouques soustenir, ancbois cbai tous pasmes
a t^rre, & quida hien de uoir que tous li palais cbaist
sour lui, si grans effirois fist la vois quant ele parla.
Et li rois meismes en auoit si grant paour que nus n'en
porroit dire la maniere. Ke onques en tout Ie palais
n'eut home ne cbeualier ne sergant qui ne s'en
esmllast, tel noise & tel effrois oirent par Ie palais.
Et quant 11 eurent demande au roi, qui il trouuerent

The king toOi leue, qu^l coso cbe peust estre, Si respondi li rois que
[• leaf u] cbe auoit este vns efTrois de tounoiro. Et cbe dist il,

^ ' pour cbou qu'il ne uoloit mie que nus d'aus seust s'a-

Tision, se oil non qui il Tauoit moustree. A tant s'en
rala coucbier li rois, Ss tout li autre se recoucbierent.

he eennot deep^ Mais li rois n'i dormi onqu^s del oel, ancbois li tardoit

bvtdeelrastotdl

jeeeph hie Tiskm. moult que li iouTS fust uenus. Car il parlast moult
iiolentiers a ioseph prmeement de cbele vision qui li
estoit aparue.

69

CHAPTER VIII.i

;0f Joseph. How he cannot sleep, and kneels on the floor and
prays for counsel and comfort, for king Evalaoh and his
distracted city (p. 69-71). How a voice tells him that his
prayer is heard, and that Evalach has seen wonders which
he shall send for Joseph to explain ; and that Josephes
shall he consecrate to Christ, and take chax^ of His flesh
and blood (p. 71-2). How Joseph is glad, and goes to bed
with his wife Helyab, but not with carnal intent (p. 72) ;
and how they had no carnal commerce till they begot
Galahad their youngest son, and then not for desire of
pleasure, but by the command of God (p. 72). And how
holy men of White Britain, now called England, descended
from Galahad (p. 72).

OR Yous lairons a tant ester del loi, Si yous par- JoMph Um is
1 J • V • -J. Tx 1. • bed, md •orrows

lerons de losepn qui se gist en son lit moult pensis ov«r Ung £▼»-

& moult angoisseus del roi eualacb, (Eminent il le porroit

toumer a la creanclie ihe^u crist. Car il se pense ke

s'il ore n'est mis el point de croire, il n'i sera iamais

mis. Car U a or en droit trop grant mestier A de Tale

de dieu & del consel as sages gens, pot^r chou ke il ne

garde I'eure qu'il ait pierdu ou la millour partie de sa

t^rre on toute, par cbe que tons li mieus de son bamage

li est faillis a son grant besoing. De cbeste cose estoit

iosepb en si grant qoisencon, qu'il ne pooit dormir del

oel, ne ne faisoit se penser non. Et qiiant il eut gen

Tne grant piecbe en tel maniere ke il n*i ent ne dormi Jowph imp* oat

. ofb«d, andkneds

ne repose, si sail bors de son lit, & si se coucba a la bure-kneed on th«

ierre a nus keustes & a nus genous, & commencba moult

piteusement a souspirer del cuer & a plorer des iez. Et

si comm.en.cha en ses ploiirs Ss en ses soupirs vne orison

en tel maniere com you8 porres oir. " Biaas sire diex, ■ndodtaoo Ood.

*toas poissans peres, fontaine de confbrt, babundans de Cf iMri4kOoi.t]

misericbrde, qui desis a pule d'israel par la boucbe

moysi ton saint ministre cbeste parole: 'YsaibeL'se bjhtopKmiiie«

tu veus fiedre cbe que ie te commanderai^ tu n'establiras

' Illustration here, of Joseph praying. * ? for YsraheL

70 JOSEPH PRATS TO GOD TO SUCCOUR EVALACH.

mie dieu nouiel, ne n*avras dieu estrange. Car ie 8ui li

tiens dieus qui tu dels aourer, qui te ieta de la signourie

pharaon qui te tenoit en seruage/ BioMs sire, ensi com

11 est uoirs qt^'il n'est autres diex que in, & ke on ne>

to •howhi» power doit autrui aourer, ensi uoirement demoustres tu ta grant

Evaiach and the poissanche & ta grant misencorde sour chel roi pecneour,

& sour les autres de cheste chite, qui si sont desuoiet de

la uoie de uerite, ke il ne counoissent lor creatour,

who wonhip anchois aoure?2t les ymages de pierre & de fust qui ne lor

and atone. poent aidier ; & il i ont nuse lor creanche ke eles les

deffendent de lor maus, & eles les mainent a lor p^r-

Joseph coi\}nree durable mort. Biaus sire, glorieus rois de toutes choses,

God,— by Hia ...

death on the qui, pour sauuer le mont qui pcrissoit, daignas angoisse

de mort soufFrir en la crois ou iou te vi claufichie. Sire,

by Hia deliver- qul par ta poissauche me ietas sain & sauf de la prison

anueofJoeeph .. .■,.. ., ,. .•i i

htmieifttom ou 10 demourai .xlij. ans ke onqt^s ni goustai de nule
^ "' t^rriene viande. Glorious sire, plaiws de toutes pites,

byHtaaaving qui sauuas lo roj dauid ton sergant contre goulias le
Goliath, grant ^ qui tant maus auoit fait a ton pule. Sire diex

pardurables, sans cammenchement & sans fin, qt^i
by Hie protecting garandiB daniel ton prophete en la fosse ou il fu mia

Daniellnthe , i i /-w • i i • -u

lions' den, eutre les Ijons; Qui a la gloneuse pecheresse mane

by Hia forglre- -i i • t t • i •

neaaofMary magdalaino perdouuas ses peonies en la maison symon
by"HiB deliver- 1^ lieprous. SiTo, qui susauuo la feme ioachim deliuras
anoe of Susannah, ^^j £^^ tesmoing ke li doi viellart portoient encontre

byHisrpecne 11. Sire, glorleus peres esperitueus, qui ietas les fiex

of the children

of Israel fh>m jsro^l del soruage pharaon, & les passas outre la mer

^' rouge a sech, & qui les menas el desiert ou tu fesis plus

[* ieafii,coL8] pouT *aus qu'H ne deseruirent vers toi; car tu le

raemplisoies de toutes lobes cboses qt^ lor cuer desir-

oient, & 11 ne se gardoient mie de toutes lor desloiautes

fly His deUrering falro uolant tol, anchols te courcbierent pluseur[s] fies, &

troubles and pat- tu toutes volos los doHuras de toutes lor tribulations, &

njiea nndeMhdr niesis tous lor auemls desous lor pies. Sire, plai;is de

'*•*»■" misericorde, ensi cf/m nous creons ke tu lobes cboses

' 7geant (not in B, leaf 8, ool. 1).

Joseph's prayer for evalach. he hears from heaven. 71

fesis, & qii^U. n'est autres diex que tu sens: Ensi

uoirement enuoies tu hastieu conseil au roi eualach, to s«nd ooanMi to

King EralAclu

qui iant est desconsillies pechieres qu'il ne puet estre

ramenes a la uoie de uerite, se tu par ta grant

poissancho ne Ten enuoies le corage & la uolente par

le raemplissement de ton saint espcrit qi^i e^^ confers

& consaus as desconsillies. Sire, ia desis tu a moi

qui sui tes sergans quant ie issi de ma naete par ton

commandement, que tu ne m'escondiroies de rien qua ie

te requesisse de boin cuer & de boine uolente pour ke

ie vausisse seruir loiaument a ton coTTimandement.

Orre, enten[d] donqt^s la proiere qve tes seigans qui 'Hear thy mft-

cbi est, fait a toi, & si i met consel selonc ta grant

misericorde & selonc ta gronde poissanche. Ne pour not for hims^r,

bat to f«*H Thy

moi, biaus sire diex, ne le faches tu mie, mais pour ton natoB,

non essauchier & aleuer, & pour demoustrer as gens ke

tu sens ies li tres haus dieus qui as pooir & signourie

deseur toutes Ies creatures. Glorieus sire dies, che est

drois que tu rendes a sainte eglise che ke tu li as

promis. Car tu le dois essauchier & acroistre par tout

le monde, & il est ore endroit bien tans & lieus ke ele »d inerauo

Thy ehnrdi Is

soit essauchie & acreue, & tes sains nons soit aoures en thia fine but

mliguided city.'

cheste biele chite desconsillie, qui si grant mestier a de
ton consel & de t'aie." Ensi fu iosepb grant piecbe de
la nuit en plours et en larmes et en orisons & en.
proieres, a keustes nus, & a genous. £t quant il eut sa
proiere finee. Si oi vne vois qui li dist : " Iosepb, lieue a voice t«iia

Joeephthat

8US, car tes proieres sont oies & recneues de ton

creatour. Et *b/cn sacbies tu de uoir ke li rois ma^idra C* i«f ui»ck]

toi procbainement. Car il a anuit veue vne grant theidngwuiwnd

*^ for him to ezpkia

partie de mes demoustrancbes & de mes merueilles. hiidraun,
Et il t'enuoiera le matin querre, pour espondre & pour
deuiser che ke il a anuit veu & oi. Et tu vien le
matin tantost com Taube aparistra, & tu & ta compaignie,
si me rendra orisons & proieres cbascun- endroit soi, &
si Y&rtea .L nouiel establissement ke ie ne yaiu ai pas

72

JOSEPH BEGETS GALAHAD ON HIS WIFE HELYAR

and that Jose-
phet chall be coif
Mcrated to God
and take charge
of Hie fleeh and
blood.

Joeeph arieee and
goes to bed with
bl8 wife Helyal^
butDOtfirom
eanud desire.

How Joeeph and
bis wife lived
porelj together.

and had no lost
when they begat
Galahad, their
youngest son,

[•lfU.bk,ooLt]

ttie anceetor of
the holy men

who honoured the
land of White
Britain, now
called England.

encore done. Car ie sacrerai ton fil ioseplie, & le fei*ai
si haut menistijB comme prouoire. Car ie li ballerai ma
char & mon sane en garde & en bailie, tout autrestant
com tu en despendis de la crois quant tu m'enportaa el
sepulcre entre tes bras. Et cheste signourie donrai iou
a ton fil iosepbe. Et tout cbil qui aut7*estel ordene
aront des ore en auant la recbeueront de lui par toutes
les t^rres ou ie menrai & toi & ta semencbe." A tant
laissa la uois a parler, si se teut. et iosepb remest moult
Hes & moult ioians de cbe qti'H auoit oi, si 8*en rala
coucbier qtiant vint au cbief de piecbe auoec sa feme
belyab. Mais il ne gisoient mie ensamble a guise de
gent luxurieuse, Mais gens co?7ime plains de religion.
Car il ne iurent onqtiea tant ensaipble entre aus deus,
puis chele euro ke H issirent bors de lor pais par le
commandement ib^^u crist, que onqu^s cbele fragilites
dont tons li bumains lignages est concbeus les escaufast
tant ke ele les peust vne fois a cbou mener ke il
souifrissent les caitis de cors auoir camel compaignie
ensamble ensi comme nature le requiert d*icbele ma-
niere. Ancbois estoient ambedoi si espris de la sou-
uraine amour au sauueour ke de cbele pa7*tie ne lor pooit
corages venir. Ne lors n'en orent il mie corage qu/int
il engenrerent galaad lor dan*ain enfant par le com-
mandement no^tre signot/r, qui le co7iim&nd& qu'il li
apparillast de sa semen'cbe .i. nouiel fruit de quoi il
empliroit en auant la terre ou il les uoloit mener. Far
le coTTimandement cbelui fu engenres galaad. Et quant
il fu engenres, n'assemblerent il mie par couuoitise
qu'il eurent de nule luxure, mais pour acomplir le
commandement de son signour, qui semencbe auoit
demande a iosepb. De cbestui galaad descendi la
baute lignie dont tout li plusour furent saint bome &
religieus en loi vies, & essaucbierent le non no^re
signeur ibe^u crist a lor pooirs, & si bounererent la
t^rre de la bloie bertaigne qui ore est apiclee englctere,

JOSEPH SHOWS JOSEPHES THE GRAIL, IN SARRAS. 73

& les autres contrees en uiron, de lors sains nors
precieus : q?/i r reposent ensi com cheste estoire le
conteia es paroles qui chi apres vienent. Or parlerons
de ioseph, si laisserons a tout de ses oirs iusc'a tant ke
il en soit liens & tans ke on redoie coni&t d'aus.

CHAPTER IX.1

How Jofleph and bis company worship before the Ark of the
Grail in the Palace of the Spirit, when a noise is heard,
and the Palace trembles. (How the Palace came to be
called The Palace Spiritual, p. 74.) How the Holy Ghost
descends on them like a ray of fire, and how a sweet wind
comes, and how Christ speaks to them, and urges them to
loTe him (p. 74-6). He tella Josephea to draw near and
take charge of his flesh and blood (p. 76). Josephes
opens the door of the Ark, and sees a man in a red robe,
and five angels clad like him, with six wings each, and a
bloody sword in their left hands, and severally in their
rights, a cross, nails, lance, sponge, and scourge, with a
roll ' lliese are the arms by which our Judge destroyed
Death ' (p. 77-8). How the Crucifixion is represented over
again before Josephes in the Grail- Ark (p. 78), and how
he is stopped from entering it (p. 79). How Joseph looks
into the Ark, and sees angels there with the instruments of
consecration (p. 79-^), and Jesus clad in sacramental
robes (p. 81). How the company of angels go over the
house purifying it with holy water, because it used to be
the dwelling-place of devils (p. 81-2). How Christ tells
Josephes that he is to receive the Sacrament of His flesh
and blood (p. 82). How the proper episcopal garments
are brought out of the Ark (p. 83) ; and how the Cbair of
Consecration makes a Saracen king's eyes fly out of his
head (p. 83). How Josephes is consecrated (p. 84), and
how the angel preserves the holy oil with which all the
kings of Britain till Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, are
anointed. How Christ tells Josephes the meaning of the
Bishop's vestments, — the shoes (a Guide from Evil, p. 84),
the upper and under garments (Chastity and Virginity), the
head-covering (Humility), and herein of the Pharisee and
the Publican (p. 85), the green garment (Suffering), that
above it (Justice), the band on the left arm (Abstinence),
the necklet (Obedience), the uppermost (Love, p. 86), the
staff (Vengeance and Mercy), the ring (Marriage to Holy
Churchy p. 87), and the homed hat (Confession, I. Be-

1 lUustration, the worshippers of the Grail, with the Holy Ghost's
heiid in the top right comer, sending red lines (of fire] to the worshippers'
mouths.

74 THE HOLY GHOST DESCENDS ON JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY.

JoMph and his
oompftny wor-
ship hefors the
Ark.

(How their
lodgfng-plaoe
was named The
Palace of the
Spirit, b7 the
Prophet Daniel ;

[* leaf 14, hack,

oul. S]

hut whj, the
citizens knew
not.)

The Holy
Ghost descends
like any of fire

into each man's
mouth.

pentance, 2. Satisfaction, and what they are, p. 88). And
bow Chrittt tella Josephes his duties as a Bishop, uud pro-
mises him a rich reward if he serves Him loyally (p. 89).

AV matin si tost coni ioseph vit Taubo apparoir, si
se leua, il & sa compaignie, Si uinre/it tout orer
deuant rarche. Et quant il furent tout agenoillie deuant,
si oirent vn mout grant escrois qui vint de haut. Et
quant il orent oi Tescrois, si sentirent la t^rre, qui
trambloit desous aus moz/lt durement. Ichil Ileus ou il
estoient herbergie & ou il ouroicnt, si estoit vns palais
qui estoit apieles li palais esperiteus. Et chest non li
auoit mis danyel li prophetes qwant il repairoit de la
baiUie nabugodonoaor le roi, *qui Tauoit pris entre les
autres iuis q?/ant il le mena en babyloino. En che
repaire passa danyel par chele cbite. Et quant il vit
le palais, si escr/t en la porte lettres de carbon en
ebrieu, & si disoient les lettres, ke chil palais seroit
apieles * li palais esperiteus.' Chis nons fu acoustumes
a dire ke onq?(es n'en chai, & tant com li palais sera en
estant sera il apieles esperiteuls. Mais deuant che qite
ioseph i fust herbergies n'auoient oi chil de la vile
onqiies, ne seu, pour quoi il estoit ensi apieles. & lors
le sorent il, si ores co?nment. Quant la terre eut
tramble desous les crestiews qui el palais estoient a
orisons ensi com uous aues oi, Si desccndi li sains
espens tantost laiens, ^ & vint en samblanche d'cspart
vns rais de fu par deua7?t chascun d'aus. Et li uns
regardoit I'autre a grant merueille, si veoit li vns que li
rais du fu entroit a Tautre dedens la bouche ;^ ne ne
disoient mot nus d'aus, Anchois quidoient estre tout
cnfantosme poiflp le fu qw'il veoiewt qwi lor entroit es
cors. Ensi furent vne grant pieche que onqu^s nus
d'aus ne dit mot de la bouche, tant durement estoient
esbahi ; Tant qu'il vint par laiens autresi comma vns

' — ' k uint en samblance de fu : si fu auis a chascun qns
vns rais de feu li entroit el cors par mi la bouce. MS Add.
10,292, leaf 8, col. 3.

JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY BEFORE THE ARK OP THE HOLY QRAIL. 75

Boufflemens de vent doucli & souwef, qui rendoit si Aiofiiwert
grant odour ke il lor fu auis qw'il fuissent entre toutes **°**^
les boines espisces da monde. Apres la venue de chele
"boine oudour, si oirent vne vois qui parla a aus ensi »* a toic*,—
com Yous pores oir. '^ Escoutes, mi nouiel fil. le sui Christ mj* tiiai

. . M be bought

diex nostre sires, Yostre peres espenteuls, qwi rous ai thom with his

1 . p . . t. ± M 1 1 flash and blood,

calengies & gaaignies encontre tout le monde -par
ma char que ie soufiH a desrompre & a p^rchier
pour Y0U8 racater^ Ss par mon sane que ie vauch es-
pandre. Et pour che qu6 ie uous ai si grant amour
moustree ke ie vous racatai de ma char & de mon
sane, che ke nus peres t^rriens ne fesist a son fil, th«y»iJouid

, love Him with

pour chou me deues yous bien samblant moustrer more than auai

love.

ke Y0U8 m ames de grignour amour ke nus fiex tcrriens

n*aime son pare. 'OR escoutes donqwes que iou, [•iflafis]

diex nostiQ sires, uo^^re peres, yous dirai. Enten cha He hu given

^ them hie Holy

crestientes, tu qui es nouuiaus pules, au urai cruchefije, spirit,

ie [t'ai] tant ame & tenu chier ke Tai mis en toi

mon saint esperit, qui i*ai enuoie en t^rre pour Tamour

de toi de la sus ou il estoit en la haute gloire de mon

chier pere. Je t'ai mis en grignour hounour & en and put them

. .,..,. « 1 1 *" greater

grignour signoune ke ti anchiseur ne furent el desert, honour than

ou ie lor dounai .xL ans tout chou ke lor cuer desiroient. in the Deseit ;
Mais encor te^ tien iou a plus aaise ke il n'estoient.

Car ie t'ai dounei mon saint eaperit, dont ie ne lor fis they "»««* «<>*

■^ then fall into

onqi^^ don ne baiUie. Ore gardes donques ke tu ne the Jews' sins,

retraios a loi felounies. Car ie lor fis tous les biens, &

il me firent tous les maz^«. Car s'il me faisoient honour

de la bouche, il ne m'amerent onquea del cuer. Et si

le me moustrerent bi6n en la fin. Car ie les uenoie ^^o were called

to the Marriage-

semonre Ss apieler a ma haute feste, a ma grant ioie de Feast

mes nueches que ie uoloie faire de moi & de sainte

eglise. Et il n'i daignierent ' fuenlir, ne onqwes ne me *nd would not

. . comej

▼aurent eomioistre que tous les bi^ns lor auoie fais.

Et pour chou que ie ving pouremewt entr* aus. Si dis-

' MS le. ' a hole in the MS.

76 JOSEPHES IS CALLED TO THE CHARGE OP THE HOLY GRAIL.

who Mdd Ho was
not tbeir God,

who took Him
like A thief and
■courged Him,

mocked Him and
gare Him bitter
drink and then
death.

[•leaf 15, col. 2]
Beware that ye
be not like
them;

if ye will be my
eons, I will be
your Father,

you shall have
my Spirit,

and I will dwell
bodily with you.

though you see
me not.
Come then,
Josephes, my
servant, thou
art worthy to
take charge of
thy Saviour's
flesh and blood.

for thon art fir^
from coretousness
and all evil, and
ftiU of all purity.

rent ko lor diex n'estoie iou mie^ Et si eurewt si grant
despit de che qtie ie osai dire, que ie estoie lor diex,
qu'il me pr/sent comme laron en repost, & si me desrom-
pirent ma cliar & perchierent mes mewibrens ^ & mon
cors. ^ Et pour les grans honenrs ke ie lor auoie faiths,
me rendirent il guerredon d'escopir & de bufoier.
Et pour les dons* boire ke ie lor auoie dones el desert,
me donerent il en la crois Ie plus vil boire & plus
angoisseus ke il peurent trouer. Et apres me dounerent
il la mort, qui lor auoie donee la terriene vie, & la per-
durable lor prometoie. Ensi trouap] cheus de tout en
tout crueus fillastres, a qui iou auoie tons iours este
dous peres. Mais gar'des \02i8 mowlt hien ke vous ne
soies samblant a la felenesse lignie. Car b/en deues
auoir cangie la maniere de cheus do qui vous aues cangio
la vie. Se vous vous contenes vers moi co^nme mi
loial fil, Je me conterrai vers vous comme yostres
deboinaires peres. Et si ferai plus -pour uous ke ie
n'ai fait pour mes prophetes qui si m'ont serui cha en
ariere de boin cuer & de boine volente. Car se il
orent mon saint esperit auoec aus, aut^'esi Taueres vous.
Et si aures encore autre chose. Car ie morrai corporel-
ment chascun iour en uostre compaignie, tout autresi
C07/1 iou estoie corporelment en terre. Mais tant i ara
de differenche, ke ie estoie veus en terre : mais ore ne
me uerres vo?« mie en chele samblanche. Vien aua7it,
iosephe, li miens sergans, car tu ies dignes d*cstre
ministres de si haute chose auoir en baillie cowme est
li chars & li sans de ton sauueour. Car ie t'ai esproue,
& conneu. plus net & plus monde de tons natureus
pecliies ke nule morteus chars ne porroit penser. Et
pour chou ke iou couoite & sai qwi tu ies mieus ke tu
meismeft ne fais — ^Car ie te sai unit de couoitise, et
monde d'enuie, & quite d'orguel, & net de toute felenie,
& sans partie de toute luxure, & plain de toute chaeste,
' ? membres. ' MS dons.

JOSEPHES OPENS THE ARK OF TUE HOLY QRAIL, AND SEES WONPEBS. 77

— pour chou voel iou ke tu rechoiues de la moie main

la plu9 grant hauthecho qne nus horn morteus puist

auoir. "Ne nus de tous les autres ne I'auera de ma

main ke tu seulemcTzt, anchois Taront de toi chil qui

des ore mais raront." A tant se traist iosephes auant, Josephes dnwB

moult traTwblans&moMlt peureus, & commencha a plourer "**'* ™ "*'

moult durement, & a rendre grasces a son creatour qui weepi and

Tapieloit a si grant honeur, recheuoir de quoi nus hom

morteus ne pooit estre dignes par deserte qu*il onqwes

eust flute selonc son auis, se diex seulement par la

sieue grasce ne li otrioit. Et quant il fu *uenus iusc'a [* leafis.ooLS]

Tarche,^ *si ne soies mie esbahis de chou ke tu uerras.' p p la vou di«t]

Lors ouuri iosephes Tuis de Tarche a mowlt grant paour He opens the

& a moult grant doutanche. Et qz^ant il eut ouuert, si »«<! m«s « man'

vit vn honime vestu d'une reube plus rouge & plus (^^'^•'^ •^ ^'^

hideuse a cent doubles que n*est foudres ardans. Et si

piet estoient tout autreatel, & ses mains, & ses viaires.

Et en tour chel home si estoient .v. angele tout vestu and five angeia

d'autrestel reube & d'autrestel samblanche. Et si auoit

chascun d'aus .vi. eles qui sambloient ke eles fuissent each with six

de fu ardant. Et chascuns d'aus tcnoit en la senestro and a bloody

. . t . -r«. f X 'J. sword in his left

mam vne espee toute sanglente. Et li premiers tenoit j^jn^^

en la main destre vne grant crois tout sanglente, Mais

qwe chose fust a counoistre de quel fust la crois estoit. and in his right

. . thefirstaniirelheld

Et li angeles secons tenoit en sa mam destre trois claus a bloody cross,

.-i T X -x -IT the second tliree

tous sanglens, Si qt^il li estoit auis ke li sans en bloody naiia,
degoutast en -chore tous vermaus. Et li tiers angeles the third a long

., ii»ixi'/> bloody lance,

tenoit en la main destre vne grant lanche dont li ners
estoit tous sanglens, & la hanste estoit toute sanglente
ausi insque par la ou li angeles le tenoit empoignie. Et
li quars angeles tenoit par deuant le uiaire al home, the fourth a

* ° ^ , . . , sponge stained

vne esponge toute droite, qui restoit autresi tainte de with wood,
sane de Tun chief iusk'en Tautre. Et li quins angeles the fifth a Woody
tenoit en sa destre mam vne maniere de corgie toute
sanglente qwi sambloit estre faite de verges torses loies
ensamble. Et chascuns de ches .v. angeles tenoit en and each had a

\J

78

JOSEPHES SEES, IN THE ORAIL-ARE, OHBIST CRUCIFIED.

roll, 'TheM are
the anna bj
which OUT Judge
conquered death.'
The writing on
Chriet's fore-
head.

[• (di-«dl»olent)
leaf U. back]
Hie feet and
handa run blood.

How the Ark
■eenied of
Immense eize.

[1 MS il ne]

[»MS1khi]
How Josephes
aeec Clirist
nailed to the
crose, and the
aponge put to
His chin.

and the lanoe
pierce His side,
and a stream of
blood and water
pour out; and
the OrailDish
under his feet,

and blood
dropping in and
filling it.

How Christ

leems as if He'd

fidl from the

cross,

and Josephes

runs to the

door of tlie

Arktooatch

Him,

vn rolct, escrites letres qui disoient: ''Che soni les
armes par quoi li iugieres qui chi est, uencui la mort
& destruist." £t cliil horn entour qui li angele cstoient,
si auoit escrit en mi le front en ebrieu de letres
blanches: ''En cheste samblanche uenrai iou iugier
toutes choses au felon iour espoentable." Ensi di*soient
les lettres. Et si estoit auis ke de ses pies & de ses
mains couroit sangle[n]te rousee contreual, si que la
tene en sambloit estre toute vermelle. Et si estoit
auis a iosephe ke Farche estoit hien a quatre doubles
plus grans & plus lee k'ele ne soloit estre. Car li horn
que il^ veoit estoit dedons, & li .v. angele; si en fu
si durement esbahis de la meruelle ke il veoit, ke il ne
sauoit ke dire ne que faire. Anchois s'enclina vers
terre, si commencha moult durement a penser. Ensi
com il pensoit tons enclins, ^ la vois le rapiela. Et il
esgarda, si vit chel home crucefije en la crois ke li
angeles tenoit, & les cleus qu'il auoit veu tenir a Tautre
angele vit es pies & es mains del home. & si uit ke
I'esponge si estoit apoie au menton, & il sambloit
moult hien home qui a chele eure fust en angoisse de
mort. Apres esgarda iosephes, si vit ke la lanche qu*il
auoit veue en la main au tierch angele estoit fichie tres
parmi le coste del home crucefijet Si en degoutoit tout
contreual la hanste vns ruisseles qui n'estoit ne tons sans
ne toute iaue, & nepourquant il sambloit estre de sane
& d^aue. Et desous les pies au cruchefis vit ichele
escuele ke ioseph ses peres auoit fait aporter en Tarche.
Si li estoit auis ke li sans dos pies au crucefije degoutoit
en chele escuele qu6 ele estoit ia pr^s plaine, si sambloit
a iosephe ke ele vausist verser, & ke li sans en deust
espandre. Apres li estoit auis ke li horn voloit chaoir
a tene, & que li doi brach li estoient ia escape des
cleus si que li cors s'en uenoit a terre, la teste desous.
Quant il vit chou, si uaut courre auant pour lui redre-
chier. Et qu/nit il dut metre le p'fimier pie dedens

JOSEPHES CANNOT ENTER THE OBAIL-ABK. JOSEPH SEES ITS WONDERS. 70

Tarche, si vit les .v. angeles a tout lor espees en Tentree but three angeis
de Tuis. Si tendoient li troi encontre lui les pointes swords at iiim,
de lor espees, & li *autre doi lenoient les lor en haut [* imr 15, back,
& faiBoient samblaut de lui ferir. £t iL ne laissa on- ^^^ j.^},^ ^^^^
qties powr cliou qw'il ne vausist outre passer, tant He'itiiuriee to
desiroit a redrechier chelui qui il creoit qui estoit ses *"'**'•
diex et ses sauueres. £t quant il vaut metre I'autre but cannot*
pie dedens, si ne peut, ancliois li couuint arester. Car
on le tenoit si forment deriere par les .ij. bras, ke il fortwoangeie
n'auoit pooir d'aler en auant. & il se regarda, si vit que thearme; and
doi angele le tenoient cnascuns a vne main, & en and the other a

,, . ' J, -L ^• 1 p T X • <»i»e' and box.

1 autre mam tenoit li yns vne ampule, & li autres .l

enchensier & vne boiste. Et ioseph ses peres, qt/ant

il le vit esgarder arriere si durement, si B'emeruilla

moult de che ke il eut tant longement este al huis de

TaTche sans plus faire & dire, & qiiel cose il pooit tant Josieph wonders

auoir esgarde. Lors se leua ioseph de la ou il estoit a tnnce.

orisons, si ala ve?*s son fil. Et quant iosephe[s] le vit

si pres de lui, si mist sa main encontre, & li camme72cha

a crier : " Ha, biaus pere ioseph, ne touche pas a moi, Josephes teiis

m y^ him not to tooch

ke tu ne me toiLles la grant gloire ou ie sui. Car ie iiim. as he is in

sui si eUumines des esperitueus demonstranches, que ^"^

ie ne sui mais en tcrre." Q?/ant ioseph oi cheste parole, Joseph kneels

. before the Ark,

si fu si angoisseus & si espris de ches me/oiclles veoir, and looks in,

and sees an

ke il n'i garda onqu^m deffense, anchois se laissa chaoir aitar covered
deuant Tuis de Tarche a genous. Et il esgarda, si vit doths, and
dedens Tarche .i. petit autel tout couuert de blans dras, one*uke samite,
& par desus tous les blans dras si i auoit .i. moult riche threTnSisand
drap, & vermeil & moult biel autrestel comme samit. l^J^^^^'
Desour che drap esgarda ioseph, si vit qw'il auoit .iij.
cleus tous degoutans de sane, <& .i. fer de lanche tout
sanglant a Tun des chies de Tautel, & a Tautre chief
estoit Tescuele qu'il auoit aportee. Et en mi lieu del
autel si auoit .i. moult riche vaissiel d'or en samblanche and the Oraii-

Dish,

d'un hanap, & .i. couuercle deseure qui estoit d'or

au'tresi. Ne le couuercle ne pent il mie veoir a C* leaf is, back;

* col. 8]

80 ANQELS COME FORTH FROM THE ARK OF THE HOLT QRAIL.

uid abore the

altar a hand

holding a red

crossp

and before the

altar two handa

holding candles.

He hear* a door
open, and there
oome out

two angela with
water and a
■prinkler;

two othen with
two gold basins
and two towels,

three more with
three gold
censers.

and boxes ftill
of inoenae, and
most sweet
■pioes.

[* leaf 16]

Another angel
with letten on
his forehead.

carrying the
Qrail-Dish;
another carrying
ahead;

on the left
another angel
with a sword.

deliuTo, ne quanqiies il auoit desus. Car il estoit
couuers d'un blanc drap ke on ne le pooit veoir ke par
deuant. Et tout outre Tautel si vit yne main qui tenoit
vne crois jnouli biele, toute vermelle. 'Mais chelui dont
la mainjs estoit, ne vit il mie.^ £t si uit deuant Tautcl
.ij. mains qui tenoient chierges. Mais il ne vit mie
les cors dont les mains estoient. Endementiers ke il
gardoit ensi laiens, si escouta, si oi Tuis d'une cambre
m[ottlt du]rement flatir. & il toume ses iex vers la
cambre, si en uit issir .ij. angeles, dont li vns tenoit
.i orchuel tout plain d*iaue, & li autres tenoit
.i jetoir en sa main destre. Et apres cbes .ij. en
uenoient doi autre qui portoient en lor mains .ij. grans
vaissiaus d'or autresteus comme .ij. bachins, & a lor
cans 2 auoit .ij. touailles qui estoient de si grant biaute
comme cbeles qui onqwcs horn morteus n'auoit baillies.
Qwant chil doi furent hors de la cambre, si en issirent
troi autre apres qwi portoient .iij. enchensiers d*or, en-
lumines de si riches pierres precieuses qw'il sambloit
de uoir ke il fuissent tout espris de fu ardant. Et en
Tautre main tenoit chascuns d'aM* vne boiste plaine
d'enchens, & de mierre, & de maintes autres precieuses
espises qwi rendoient laiens si douche odour & si grant
suatume qw'il estoit tres bien auis ke la mai*sons en
fust toute plaine. Apres en vit issir .j. autre, qui auoit
letres el front escrites, & si disoient, * ie sui apieles
forche del tres haut signowr.' Ichil portoit sour ses
.ij. mains .i. drap autresi verdoiant com esmeraude, &
sour che drap estoit mise la sainte escuele. En coste
de chelui drap, & .i. angele deuers destre, en auoit ,i.
qui portoit vn teste, cowi qt^s si riches ne si biaus ne
fu veus par iex de nul home terrien se chil meismes ne.
Et deuers senestre en i auoit .i. qwi portoit vne ^pee
dont li poins estoit d'or, & li heudure d'argent. Et
toute Talumele estoit autresi vermeille ca7nme vns rais

' Here an illustration, of a hand holding a cross ; and below,
three bloody nails, the Qrail vessel, &q. ' L. coUum, neck •

OH. IX.] GRAIL-ANQEL8 SPRINKLE THE HOUSE WITH HOLT WATER. 81

de fa en biases. Et quant chil troi estoient issu hois, Three other
81 yenoient deuant aus troi autre qui portoient trois three ooioand
chierges de toutes les couleurs que mortens langue j^^'
porroit noumer. Apr^s esgardoit ioseph, si neoit issir
hois ilie^u crist, en autrestel samblanche com il li ap-
parat en la chartie ou il estoit enprisones, qt^int il fu
issus del sepulcre, & en cors & en esperit, au ioor de sa
lesuirection. En cheste samblanclie le yit iosepb. venir
hois, fors tant seulement ke il auoit ore vestus tons les
Testemens ke pr^stres doit uestir quant il vent faire le ciad in nen-

, . . mental robei.

sacrement iwstie signeur. £t li angales pnmiers qui
portoit le ietoir, puchoit en Tiaue, & si aloit ietant par The uigei

^ , ... • 1 • J. -I • -ftr • eprinkleethe

desus les crestijens qui estoient laiens. Mais nus pe(q>iewith
d'aus tons ne ueoit cbelui qui I'iaue ietoit, fors qi^e ^*^^'*^^'
ioseph seulement & iosepbes ses fiex; icbil doi le
yeoient tout apertement. Lors prist iosepb son fil par Joeeph mIu

Joeephee If he

la main, & si li dist, *' biaus fiex, counois tu encore ne knows Christ.

apercbois qui cbist bom est, qui si biele maisnie maine

en sa eompaignie, & ya si bounonreement 1 " Et iosepbe

li dist : *' par foi, biaus pere, ie sai de uoir ke cb'est He ahswer^

cbil de qui dauid dist el sautier en yn yers ' ke diex

eommande as angeles qu'il le gardent par tons les lieus

ou il ira.' Ne nus bom ne porroit estre si seruis ne si

boneies *par angeles que il seulement." A tant passa [*ieafie»od.s]

toute la co7npaignie par deuant aus, si alerent auirounant angeu go sii

tout le palais dedens, & par tout leu il aloient ietoit li ^ ^^^

angeles Tiaue au ietoir. Et quant il yenoient deuant iprinUing holy

water.

I'arcbe, si n'i aloit nus d'aus qui n'enclinast a ib^^u
crist auant, & puis apres a Tarcbe. Et quant il orent
auirounee toute la maison par dedens, si reuinrent
tout deuant Taicbe. Lors apiela nostiea sires iosepbe.
Et iosepbes li respondi : '' Sire, yees obi uo^e sergant chHst calls

Joe^hes

tout apparilliet a Yostre uolente faire." Et nostre sires

li dist : " Ses tu ke cbeste iaue senefie, ke tu as yeu and teUs him

espandre par ebaiens ? Cbe est netoiemens des lieus sprinkling of

^ V A the water was

ou manuals espens a conuerse. Oar cneste maisons a topuHiythe

QRAAL. 6

82 J0SSPHE8 18 TO BB BISHOP OF THE NEW CHRISTENDOM. [cH. IX.

hoQM, whloh
hadbMntiw
haUteilon of
d«Yila.

Chrlft nplalni
how bolj water
yoriflM,

•ndtolti
JoMphtttbat
he 111 to reoelTe
tho Sacnunttit^

C*lMfl«,ool. 8]

and ba mada
Sorraln BUhop
of hU new
fihriattwlnmi

Chrlettakea
Joeapbeebj
the hand and
drawa blm to
Him.

este tons ioura habitacles des djables, Si doit estre
auant mondees & netoies ke mes seruiches i soit fais.
£t nepourquant ele est toute mondee & espuigie des ke
li sains esperis i descendi qui iou i enuoiai, mais ie
I'ai arousee de cheste iaue por che qiie ie voel que tu
faclies autresi par tous les liens on mes nons doit estre
apieles & mes seruiches fais." £t iosephes li dist :
** sire, en quel maniere puet Tiane espurgier si ele n'est
auant espuigie f" ''Tout autrestel beneichon, dist
nostre sires, en Tiaue del purefijement eommQ en Tiatie
del baptesme. Car tu i feras Ie signe de la grant
raencbon, che est li signes de la crois sainte, & si diras
ke che eoit el non du pere & du fil & du saint espmt
£t qui aura creanche enterine en la forche de cheste
beneichon, ja mauuais espms n'abitera en liu ou cheste
iaue soit espandue. Car tous li peurs & la paine au
d jable si est en oir Ie coniuiement de la sainte trinite,
& en ueoir Ie signe de la sainte crois, par qui sa poestes
fu destruite. Des ore mais Toel ke tu rechoiues la
hauteche ke ie t'ai promise a doner. Che est li sacro'
mens de ma char & de mon sane, & si Ie verra tous mes
pules apertement. Car *ie voel qu*il te soient tesmoing
deuant rois et deuant contes, ke il ont veu la sainte
enunction ke ie t'ai mise sour toi potir toi establir
souurain pasteur apres moi de mes nouuieles berbiSy
Ch'est souurain eueske de ma nouuiele crestiente. Et
tout autreai com moyses mes loiaus seigSTis estoit
meneres & conduisieres des fiex israel par la poeste qu4
ie Ten auoie dounee, Tout autresi seras tu gaideres do
chest mien pule. Car il aprenderont de la toie bouche
comment il me deuront seruir, & comment il tenront la
nouiele loy, & garderont la creanche." Lors Ie prist
nostrea sires par la destre main, si Ie traist prcs de Ini,
si ke tous li pules des crestiens qui laiens estoient
yirent apertement la samblanche de lui. £t si ueoient
tout comment iosephes estoit en estant deuant lui, e%

CH. IX.] JOSEPHES IS CLAD IN BISHOP's VESTMENTS FROM THE aRAII/-ABK. 8d

comment il faisoit le eigne sour lui de la ciois. Et

quant il eut este vne pieche deuant lui, a tant es uous a grey-haired

. - ■! It man OOQIOS

que vns horn vint nors de 1 arche tons kenus, si aportoit out of the Ark

SOOT son col les plus riches uestemens, & les plus biaus ganDesL,

ke nus hom t^rriens eust onqt^^s veus ne baUlies. £t

apr^ chelui issi vns autres q^^i estoit biaus a m^ruelle,

& de moult biel eage, si portoit en son poing vne croche, Md ajoung one

with A crook and

& en Tautie vne mittre toute blanche, & la croche mim>
estoit toute blanche ausi, & la hanste toute vermelle.
Quant chil doi fuient venu hors, si uestirent iosephe andthejeiothe
tous les uestemens ; les sandales premierement, & puis bishop's vest-

1 . •■ • • J. -!_ T*^ 1 M menta and seat

les autres choses qui conuienent a eueske. £t quant il him in a chair

fu tous reuestus, si Tassirent en vne kaiere qui estoit

illuec, toute apparellie par la uolente nostre aigaour,

qui de toutes chose le voloit aaisier. Chele kaiere

estoit de si grant nkeche ke onqu^ nus hom qui le of great richness,

ueist ne sent a dire certainete de quoi ele peust estre.

Et tout cil qui faisoient les riches oeures, dont il le

uinrent puis veoir maint, disoient ke en tout le monde

n'auoit *maniere de si riche pirre^ dont il n*eust en la [• leaf le, back]

kaiere. Et che dient encore tout chil ki le voient.

Car ele ne fu onqt^ puis ietee hors de la chite, anchois >tiu kept in the

fu tous iours tenue 'pour saintewaire puis ke iosephes

en fa partis. Ne onquas puis hom ne s4 assist que n'en

fust leues tous mors, ou qui n'i mehaignast de son cors

anchois qu'il en fust l^ues. Et puis en auint il moult ofthesubse-

, qnent miracle

biaus miracles quant la chites fu pnse par vn roi des wrought by the
sarrasins qui guerrioit la terre. Car, quant il eut madeasacrue-
trouuee la kaiere, & il le vit si riche, si dist ke il le ung^s ejeTiiy
prisoit plus ke toute la chite, & dist qu'il Temporteroit °*'°
en egypte dont il estoit rois, & si serroit dedens tous
les iours ke il porteroit coroune. Et quant il Ten quida
porter, si ne le pent onqz^es nus hom remuer de son lieu
on ele estoit. Et il dist ke toutes voiea serroit il
dedens, puis ke il porter ne Fen pooit. Et maintenant
* piere, pierret pere, pierre, pierrerie. — Burguy.

81 CHRIST 00NBECBATB8 JOSVPHBS mSHOP Of CHBIBTENDOM. [CH. IX.

HovCkrteft
Anoints and

JoMfbM,

TiMholjonb
pat bj tiM ugtl
Sato tlM Ailc

AndaUtho

UaftorEnf-

lMidtUlUth«

Arthur's fktiMT,
wwsnoiBfd
with It.

C'ktfl^bMk,
oolt]

Chilstpiitsa
ring on Jo-
ssg^'ftngtr.

Christ tslls
Josspbsstbo
OMnnloff of
Ussplsoopnl

HIp shoss to
kitphlsflMt
Ikom ths paths

ke il s'i fu assis, si en prist Jkostie sires si grant uen-
ianche que ambedoi 11 oel li uolerent hors de la teste.
Ensi demoustra no^ie sires que cbe n'estoit pas sieges
a home mortel, se a clieli non pour qui il I'auoit ap-
pariUie. £t maintes autres uirtus i demoustra il, dont
li contes ne parlera mie cbi orendroit, Mais qtiont li
lieuB yenra, & li tans. Quant iosephes fu assis en la
kaiere, si uinrent tout li angele deuant lui, A nostte
sires I'enoinst & sacra en chele maniere ke on doit
eueske sacrer & enoindre, si ke tous li pules le yit
apartementi £t ohele onctions dont il fu enoins si fu
prise en I'ampule ke li angeles portoit, qui le prist &
traist a soi par I'espaule quant il vaut entrer dedens
I'arche si com sues oi cha en aniere. £t de chele
onction mebme furent enoint tout li roi deske la
crestientes vint en engletere iusqtt'a uter pandragon,
qui fu peres le roi artu, de qui tout chil qui content les
auentures ne seuent mie tres bien pour quoi il fu apieles
pandragons *en son soumon« Car che set on bien, ke
il eut a non Tters en baptesme. Mais Testoire de chest
liure lor dira cha en auant tout esclairiemant poter quoi
il fu apieles ensi, & cennment ichele unctions fu perdue
qiMmt il dut premierement estre courones. Quant
iosephes fu enoins & sacres ensi com yous aues oi, si li
assist noette sires la croche en la main & sa mitt[r]e en
la teste, & si li mist el doit yn anel dont nus horn
morteus ne porroit Tenure contrefaire, ne la forche de la
piene deuiser. £t quant il eut de toutes choses ensi
atoume com yous aues oi, si Tapiela, & si li dist:
" Josephe, ie t'ai sacre & enoint a eueske si hautement
ke tu as yen, & mes autres pules ke chi est^ Or te
dirai ke chist yestement senefient ke tu as yestus.
Car nus ne les doit porter s'il ne fait chou ke la sene*
fianche requiert Chil sauler qu« tu as cauchies,
senefie ke ti> doit tes pies tenir si nes ke il ne yoisent
an nule oeuure de malisse^ mais en oriBon, et en prs»

CH: IX.J THK BPIBITUAL MXA^ING OF A BIBHOPlsi VBBT1CXNT8. 8ft

chement^ & en consel •douner as desconsillies^ En tel

nuinieie dois tu traoillier tea pies. Car ie voel que ta

aies part en Tescripture qui dist : ' li horn est boineu- VMim i, i, v

reus qui ne vaut estre consenteres del canael as felons,

& qui ne naut porter ses pies en la uoie par ou 11

pecheonr A li desloial aloient^ & qui ne sist mie en la

kaiere de destruisement Mais il mist sa nolente & sa

poissanche toute a parfaire les eit>tnmandemen8 de la

loj noHie signoiir, & en cheste chose fuient tout si

pense, & par nuit & par lour.' En tel maniere doiuent

aler ti pie. Car il ne doiuent la fidre nul pas sans

p^mrfit. Apr^s te dirai des autres uestem^ns. Chil ke '

tu as vesta desus ta cote, si senefie chaeste. Car ch'est tim adw gN»

me yirtus par qui Tame qtiont ele depart del cors s'en chaia^.

na blanche & nete, & si s'acorde a tous les biens de

Tame, che estw a toutes les virtus. Ensi dois *tu pre- C* iMf M^baeic.

mierement chaaste dedens toi auoir, pour faire de 11

fondement as autres uirtus ede^'er. . li autres ueste«

mens desour chelui est autresl blans, & si senefie Tb««nMrui«Mi

TirginiteL Et tout autresi com uirginites ne puet

estre en nul lieu ke caaestes ne soit en sa eompaignie.

Tout autresl ne puet nus prestres ne ne doit uestir

ehelui desus ke il n'ait auant uestu chelui desous.

Chil autres uestemens dont 11 chies est couuers, si ThaiiMd-cow

senefie humelite, qui est contraire a orgueL Car Hvmuitj,

oigieus veut tous lours aler fierement^ teste leuee.

Mais humilltes va douchement, tout souef, le chief PriMUoastitto

walk htimblyt

endin. Autresi doit aler li prestres a grant humilite, le not uke om
ehlefenclin. Non pas autresi eom li pharisgens el temple tmb^,
quant il oroit^ qui dist, * biaus sire diex, ie te rench
grasces is merchis de che ke ie ne sui mie autresi
desloiaus com sont mi autre voisin 1 ' Mais ausi com
li publicans qui n'osoit mie nis regarder vers le chiel, bat iik« the
tel paour auoit il ko diex ne se courechast de che qu'il
estoit si pechieres; anchois estoit repuns loing d^
I Chel uestimeiit ka^ MS Addit 10^292. leaf 10, ooL 1.

^6 THE MEANn^G OF THE BISHOP^S BOBES AND NECKLET. [CH. IX.

The gnen gar-
ment means
Suffering
invincible.

The one above
it means Jastice
or Righteoua-
neae.

[• leaflT]
The qualitiei of
JoBtioe.

The band on the
left arm meant
Ab^lJuepoe.

Why is it on the
left arm rather
than the right P

The necklet
means Obedi-
ence.

For we on^ht to
bear the yoke
like the ox.

The nppennost
garment means
LovO} or Charity.

Tautel, & batoit son pis de son poiug, & disoit,
'Diex, sire, aies pitie de chest pecheonr.' En tel
maniere se doit contenir, qui vent acomplir les oeures
d'umilite. Or te dirai ke cliil apres senefie qui est tons
yera, & si ne T doit nus prestres yestir, ne lui ne chel
autre desns, se il n'est eueskes. Et chil qui est si u^rs
senefie souffranche, qui ia ne sera yencue, tons iours
jest yerdoianSy tous iours est en yne forche, ne nus ne
ua encontre qui ele n'emport la yictoire & I'onour. Car
nus ne puet si hieii yaincre son anemi comme par
soufifrir. Chil autres uestemens desus chestui, qui est
si blans, senefie droiture. Car tout chil qui uoelent
droiture de sainte eglise garder loiaument maintienent
droiture. Droiture est yne yirtus de si grant haute*che
ke par li sont toutes choses tenues en lor droit pointy
ne ia nule fois ne se cangera, a chascun rendra chou
qu'il ara deserui. Droiture ne doune a nului pour
amour, ne ne taut a nului pour haine. Ensi se doit
mener qui ueut maintenir d[r]oiture. Chil loije^zs qui
te pent el brach senestre, si senefie abstinenche. ^Car
li cors doit estre loijes a abstinenche autresi com 11 bras
est de chel loijen, & che est ^ yne des grans yirtus d'estre
en abstinenche en grant plente de hien, & cheste uirtus
si est yns des membres de droiture. Et se tu ueus
sauoir pour quo! chil loiens est jplus el brach senestre
ke el destre, Je le te dirai : pour ke la destre ne doit
seruir se d*espandre non, ne la senestre se de retenir
non. Or t'ai dit del loien del brach. Apres te dirai
de chelui qui est entour le col, si senefie obedienche.
Car autresi com li hues porte le gieu au gaignour,
autresi deues yous porter le gieu de nostie signour dame
dieu, & deues estre obeissant a son eommandement,
autresi com li hues obeist au gaaignour pa[r] la forche
du gieu. Chil daarrains uestemens qui est desus tous
les autres, si senefie carite. Car ele est tout yermelle j
*-^' o'est, MS Addit. 10,292, leaf 10,.coL 2, middle.

CH. IX.] THB MEANING OF THE BIBHOP'S STAFF AND RING. 87

& qui a carite en soi, il est cans autresi com 11 carbons
ardans est Termans, & si est volentieus & corieos de
tenir cliier chou qu'il doit. Che est, d'amer dien son tim qnaiitiM of

Charity.

signour de tout son cner & de tonte s'ame & de tout
son pense, & apr^s d'amer son proisme autresi com soi
meisme. ^Charites met toutes choses en vn pris, &
aime toutes choses ouniement, nule cliose ne tient a
estrange, autant aime la chose a son uoist/t eomme la
soie.^ Ensi vit, qui garder vent carite. Chil bastons
ke tu tiens en ta main senefie .ij. choses, venianche & TheitoffmeuM

V^ngcftDM and

misericoide ; Teniancbe, pour chou ke il est poignans Uervy,

par desou^, & misericorde, "pour chou qu'il est cour*bes [*iMf i7, cot 2]

par deseure. Car 11 chies deseure doit premierement Heny.uitu

crooked a-top ;

apieler. Che est a dire, ke 11 eueskes doit tout auant the siihop ought

J r • JL ilrrttoiuegentU

apieler le pecheour, & semonre de confession, os mener woida
tant par douches paroles ke il 11 ait fait so?) pechiet
regehier a honeur de dieu & a honte del djable. £t
quant il a oint de ses douches paroles tant qt^'il ait
mene a ndsericorde, lors si le dolt poindre du chief du
baston desoiM. Che est a dire, ke quant 11 prestrea a and then the

•harp point of

tant adouchie le pecheour ke 11 11 a fait recounoistre son Bepentanee.
creatour A renoijer le djable, lors si le doit poindre, car 11
11 doit encargler le fais de la grant penitanche par quoi 11
soit polns & aguillounes pour espanlr en tristeche chou
k'il ara fouxfait en loie. Ensi siert 11 clues deseure
d'apleler a mlsericorde, et chil desous sert de prtfndre
Tenlanche. Or te dlral ke senefie 11 afnllaus ke tu aa The sing on ue

finger meana

en ton doit. II senefie mariage. Car 11 eueskes est saores, Marriage,

and the Biahop

m, est loins a salnte eglise par mariage. Car, quant 11 la married to

i_ I •x** i*D'i J.1 Holy Church.

eueskes est sacres, si est 101ns a dieu, & aes lors en auant la

doit 11 garder saine & enferme <k>inme sa loial espouse. £t

la u 11 recholt le mariage, ne le doit 11 'puia werpir,* ne and mtut keep

en prosperite ne en aduersite ; Ch'est a dire, ne en bien good and bad

' — ' Car cEfite met toutes oosea en .L point & aime toatei
ooaes ouniement ; si aime autant lea oosea son uoisin comma la
sole. MS Add. 10,292, leaf la, col. 3, at top.

* poiB ne le doit on degnerpir. MS Add. 10,292, leaf 10, col. 3.

88 THE MEANING OF THE BISHOP'S HORNED HAT, OR HITRE. [CH. IS.

and thare her
•orrows.

The homed hat
meuu Ck>iifti-
■ion.

C*lMf 17,001.8]

Whjr there are
two horns.
The flmt ie
Bepentanee;
the leoond
BetitfMlion.

What SatltfiM-
tion is.

The head and
two limbs of
Contesion.

ne en mal. Et se sainte eglise sueffre tribulations ne
mescheanches, il en doit estre parchouniers. Car
Tewangile diet ^ ke chil sont boineure qui soustienent
les paines & lea anuis pour droiture. En tel manieie
Be doit contenir qui veut estre loiaus espous en sainte
eglise. Et qui autrement s'i contient, il n'est mie loiaus
espousy mais auoutres, car il fause son mariage ke il
deust loiaument garder. Apr^, dois sauoir ke chil
chapiaus comus senefie qui est en ton chief. II senefie
confession, & pour chou est il blaTzs ; car confessions est
la plus blanche chose qui soit, & la plus nete. Car ia
nus horn n'iert si ors de pechie, *ne si enuenimes, se il
a yraie confession yeut repairier, ke ele ne le fache tout
blanch & tout net. Et ses tu pour quoi il i a .ij. comes )
Pour chou qu*il i a .ij. menbres en confession. Li
premiers de ches .\j. menbres est repentAnche, & 11
autres est satisfasions. Hepentanche est, quant vns
vient au prouoire, & il li regehist son pechie, & le
partist du tout si ke 11 n'i repaire plus. Ichil vient a
repentanche, mais pour chou n'est il mie vrais canfea ;
Anchois li eonuient faire auant satisfaision. Satisfai-
sions est, quant vns pechieres a son pechie recounu, de
faire la penitanche itele com li prestres li encarche, &
de souffiir la paine de boin cuer, de boine volente.
Ensi pues entendre ke nus ne puet estre confea se il n'a
confession le chief, & les deus menbres. Li chies est
de son pechie regehir. Li yns des membres est de tenif
Boi de pechie. Li autres est de mener a chief la peni-
tanche encarchie. Ne ia nus hom ne sera urais confes
pour ke il defaille en quel ke soit de ches trois. Et
pour chou ke confessions [est] la plus haute chose qui
soit, comme chele qui restore a yn caup tons les
damages & toutes les piertes, pour chou est ele senefije
par che chapiel qui est li plus haus de tous les ueste-
mens. Or ies tu enoins & sacres, & ie t'ai doune
' MS TepesiB car VefcanffUe diit*

CH. Z.] THE DUTT OF JOSBPHES AS THE FIB8T CHRISTIAN BISHOP. 89

rordene & la hautecbe d'eneske, a men pule ensegnier Now that
& confermer en ma [no]uiel[e]^ ley. Et ie voel ke tu oonMomtwi,
soies garde des ames d'aus, & quanqua ie i perderai par ^d oonurm
defaute de toi, ie te demanderai tout^ & a toi m'enpren- JSlrtUhSr*'^^
derai au grant iour espoentable quant ie uenrai H^SonubUtor
prendre yenianche & iustiche de tons les me&is, quant JJj^*^*
toutes les respoistailes des cuers seront descouuertes.
Et se ie te trois loial sergant de chest petit pule noniel H!i nwmrd ff h«

III 1 Injil iiniHl,

dont ie te eommant les ames, ie te donrai a client

doubles grignour baillie, ensi com Ie ewangile Ie promet

a cbians ki laissent lor propriete pour amour de moL

Et pour chou te commancb iou *les ames, & si t'en fai Cie^i7,b«jk]

pastour, ke ie ne voel ke il soit' pourueres & despen-

siers de cbes choses qui as cors besoigneront. Or, yien

auant, & si feras Ie sacrement de ma cbar et de mon

sancy si ke tous ^ mes pules les verra apiertement."

CHAPTEE X.

Josephea goes into the Ark and celebrates the Sacrament
He uses only Christ's words of Consecration, and forth-
with the braid and wine become flesh and blood (p. 90).
Christ makes him diTide the bread into three parts, which
nevertheless f^pear, and are eaten by him, as one body,
most sweet (p. 89-90). He receives the wine. The angels
take the vessels oat of the ark (p. 91). Christ tells the
people he sends them his flesh and blood (p. 91). Joseph
and his company receive the body of Christ, like a small
child. Christ tells Josephes to celebrate the Sacrament
daily, and how to ordain priests and bishops in every city
(p. 92) ; and that Evalach*s messengers are coming for
him to expomid the king^s dream, and that he is to be of
good courage, as he sliall beat the false prophets (p. 92-3).
How Josephes appoints his cousin-german Leucam to gnard
the Ark, as Treasurers do now Churches* treasures (p. 93).

A

tant enmena nostie sires losepbe iusc'a rarcbe, j<»«pb«sgoM
si ketoi^li pules leuitentrerdedens. Etsiuirent

■ nouele. MS Add. 10,292, leaf 10, back, col. 1«
' MS ke tu tous. ' ? f or ' tu sols.'

'90 BISHOP JOSEPHES OEI^EBRiiTBS THE FIB8T SAGRASENT. [CH. X.

whiten I
l»rg»r,

and o»l«bnite«
th^ Saonmmi^

ndngonly
Chiiit't words
ftttiieLul
6app«r,

■nd forthwiUi
the bread
beoomee flesh,
and the wins
blood, as of a
child.

Christ tells
Josephssto
diTide the bread
into three parts.
Joiephes remon-
strates,

[* leaf 17, back,
col. 2]

Mt does it.

tout ke ele crat tant & eslaigi, ke il estoient tout
laigement dedens, & veoienfc lea angeles yenir & aler
pardenant Tuis. Laiens fist iosephes le premier sacre-
ment qui onqties fuiSt fais en cheloi pule. Mais il Tot
moult tost acompli Gar 11 n'i dist ke clies paroles
seulement ke ihesvia cm dist a ses disciples en la
chaine,^ Quant il lor dist, " tones, si mangies, che est
11 miens cors qui pour yous & pour maintes gens sera
liures a tourment." Et autresi lor dist il du yin,
« tones tout, & si buues ; car che est li sans de le
nouiele loy, li miens sans meismes qui pour vous sera
espandus en remission des pechies." Ches paa'oles
dist iosephes sour le pain ke il trouua tout aparilliet
sour la platine du calice, ensi com li contes a dit la u
il parla del autel qui estoit en Tarche. £t quant il les
eut dites sour le pain & sour le vin qui el caUsce
estoit, si deuint tantost li pains chars & li vins sans.
& lor yit iosephes tout apiertement ke il tenoit
yn enfant, Sc li sanloit ke chil sans qui uenoit el
calisce fust cheus del cors a Fenfant Et quant il le
uit ensi, si en fu moult durement eshahis, si ke il
ne sauoit sous chiel ke il peust faire. Anchois se tint
tons cois, & commencha moult angoisseusement a sous-
pxrer du cuer & a plourer des ie^ pour la grant paour
ke lL auoit. Lors li dist no^fre sires : " Josephe, il te
conuient desmenbrer chou ke tu tiens, si ke il i ait trois
pieches." |Et iosephe li respondi: ''Ha, sire, aies
pitie de uostre serf. Car mes cuers ne porroit souiSrir
a desmenbrer si biele figure." Et no«^res sires li dist,
'' se tu ne fais mes commandemens, tu n'aras point de
part en mon hyretage." Lors prist iosephes le cors, se
mist la teste a yne part, & desseura del bu tout autresi
Increment eomme se la chars de Tenfant fust toute
quite en tel maniere com on quist char ke on a oublie
Boiir le fu. Apres chou, fist .\j. parties du remenant a

' Fr. ehidf L. ooena.

€H. Z.] BISHOP J08EPHES RBOBIVES THE SAORAMENT. 91

mottlt grant paonr comme chil qui moult durement 8oa»-
piroit & plooroit. Ensi com il eomm&ncha, a faiie les
parties, 8i chairent tout li angele qui laiens estoient The lagtia au

knMl down*

deuant Fautel a t^ne, & furent tout acoutes & a genous

tant ke nogtie sires dist a iosephe : ** Quel chose atens chrM ta\»

tut redioif chou qui est deuant toi, & si Tuse, car che x«oeiT«whfttii

est tes sauuemens." £t iosephes se mist a genous, A

bati son pis, & ciia merchi, en plorant de tous ses

peddes. Et quant il fu ledrecbies, si ne vi deuant

soi sour la platine ke vne pieohe a samblanche de pain, hetekwtb«

& si le pnst, si le leua en haut. Et quant il eut rendu

grasces a son creatour, si ouuri la bouche & vaut metre uidonpnttinir

^ *, , . , It Into hto mouth

dedens. Et il regarde, si uoit ke cne restoit vns cors flndiitoiMbodj,

tous entiers. & quant il le vaut traiie aniere, si ne paut^

ains sentoit c'on 11 metoit tout dedens la bouche

ancbois qu'il le peust clore. Et quant H I'eut use, si li

fu.auis ke toutes les douchours & les suautumes ke on ■wMterthanom

b« told by tooguA

porroit nomer de langhe li fmssent entrees el cors. ofmu.
Apres recbut yne partie del saint boire sacre qui estoit Joi«pb«a raotiTsp

th«wiM«

el calisce. Et quant il eut^ cbe fait, si uit ke uns

angeles prist la platine & le caliBce, si les mist am-

bedeus en la sainte escuele, Tun sour Tautre. Et sour

cbele platine si yit plusours piecbes en samblancbe de

pain. Et quant li angeles eut prise I'escuele, si vint An ngA pata

vns autres, si leua la platine en baut & cbe qui estoit cap into the

BUS auoec, si Tenportoit entre ses .ij. mains liors de c*ieafi7,bMk.

Tarcbe. & H tiers angeles prist le calisce, si le porta apres Another cerHet

cbelui en autrestel maniere. et cbil qui portoit la sainte 2S? <»t of the

escuele, fu tous li daarrains. Et quant il furent bors de

Tarcbe tout troi, si ke tout li pules les yeoit, si parla

vne voiB qui dist : " Mes petis pules nouielement tones * chriet telle \he

^, people that J»e

de I'esperitel naissencbe, ie t'emioi ton sauuement. Cbe eende uram

mm their eelvatlont

est mes cors qui p<?ur toi souffii corporel naissencbe & his body and
corporel mort. Or garde dont ke tu aies vraie creancbo

' MS repeats Ht qvant il eut,
* iie& MS Add. 10,292, leaf 11, col. 1.

92 GHBI8T OlVlSa BISHOP J06EPHE8 ORDERS WHAT TO DO. [oH. X»

Mid thit tiMJ

whor«»lT«tt
worthily shall
iMMvtd, vad
th^who
rtealTalt
vnworthily,

JaMph and hh
oooipaojr rwtiTt^
tht SMniiuiiU

XMhthlnina
diild hai gone
Into hit mooUw

Th«angalaiw-*
pbct Um TMMla
laUwArk.

[•laafiq

Christ toll!
Josaphssto
aalsbrate Um 8a«
daU7.

Anddlncti
him how to

ofoalii prissti^
and bishops,
who shall hava
thsaposUss*
powsr toUnd

C* HSsorrontJ

and tslls hhn to

makaablshoplii

OTtrydtj,

and anoint thsm,
and all oonvaitad
kings, with ths
holj anointing.

Christ tails him
that STahMsh's

•thand»

a une A Haute chose lecheuoir & vser. Car se tu crois
parfitement ke che soit tes sauueieSy dont le recheueras
tu au perdurable sauuement de Tame* £t se tu ne crois
enterinement, tu le lecbeueras au perduiable dampne*
ment del cors & de Tame.^ Car qui usera men cors, et
buuera mon sane, & il n'en sera dignes, il mangera son
destruisement & buuera, ne nus n'en puet estre dignes
se il n'est urais creans. Or garde donqtMS ke tu le
croies." Lors vint li angeles qui portoit la platine
deuant iosepb. Ss iosepb s'agenoilla, si recbut^ iointes
mains, son sauueour, tout isnelement^ & cbascuns des
autres autresi. £t si estoit a cascun auis quant on li
metoit en la boucbe la piecbe en samblancbe de pain,
ke il yeiat entrer en sa boucbe yn enfant tout en forme.
Et quant il eurent tout eu del sacrement, si s'en
retoumerent li troi angele en Tarcbe, Ss misrent sour
Tautel les 'vaiBsieus ke il portoient. Lors apiela
nostiea sires iosepbe, & si li dist, *' Josepbe, ensi me
seruiras cbascun lour des ore en auant, & tu & tout
cbil ke tu establiras a ordene de prouoire Ss d'eueske*
£t se tu ordenes prouoire, tu li metras ta main
sour le chief, & li feras le eigne de la crois el non
de la trinite. Mais a I'eueske sacrer cemuient tout
chou qu6 iou ai fait sour toL Car eueskes doit etre
sour prouoire* Et tout cbil qui a cheste hounour
serront* establi, aront ausi grant pooir de lo\jer & de
desloger comme mi apostle eurent en terre. Desormais
establiras vn eueske en cbascune chite ou mes nons
sera recbeus par ta parole. & si serra enoins de cheste
sainte onction, Ss tout li roi qui par toi yenront a ma
creanche. Ore aproche I'eure ke li rois eualacb laira le
desuoiement des ydolesy Ss se toumera a la creanche
de la glorieuse trinite. Car li chiualer sont pries qui
yienent querre iosepb pour lui chertefger d'une grant
meroelle ke ie li ai anuit moystree en auidon. Or
' niuBtratton of Joseph and dx others taking the saonuneiit.

€H. ZL] J0BSPRB8 JLFPQIKTS LBUCAM TO GUARD THX GRAHrABX. $3

oste ces^ uestem^ns, si iias a lui entre toi & ioseph, & aadttatiMand
Tons lea feres certain de toat[es] les choses qu'il yous with tJm, ^
demandera. £t si ne soies pas esmaijet se Youa yees and not b» aftiid
Tenir encontre YOtts tons les boins clers de sa loy ; car d«rka, mIm

ta les nainteras tons, Si que ia a tes paroles ne ponont ^^
contrester. £t si te donrai si biele grasce es iez le loi Md And gnuw in
eualachy ke tu li diras vne partie de che qu'il li serra a
auenir par la forche de mon esp^rit. £t tout cliil qtd And au who

xoocIto tho H(dT

man espmt ont recheu, on qui le recheueront, aront ohortihaubo
pooir de cacnier nors les ma[uuajis espens par tons les tru muiu.
liens on il yenront/' A tant s'ala iosephes dd^nestir, si JoMph«s nnroboi,

and Mtfl Laooun

ialBsa tous les uestemens en Tarche sour 1 auteL Apres to mtoh the Ark

.... . • . •x v 1 night and daj.

apiela j. sien cousin germain qui estoit en cnele com-
paignie, si estoit apieles leucans. Chelui establi
iosephes a carder Tarche de lour & de nuit. & encore And this eutom

- . _ atUlazUtain

est ore a nos tans cheste coustume maintenue es nautes great chorohea

eglises. Car li vns garde toul le tresor del egli'se : si [• leaf i8,coi. i]

est apieles tresoriers. Ne onques a chel tans n'auoit

este fait. Mais lors establi iosephes cbelui leucam,

end com yous aues oi de cbelui, ne mie pour cbou ke

il fust ses cousios, ^maiB pour chou ke il se^ tenoit plus [* hs 'fta*

altand]

religieus ke nul des autres.^

*»j

CHAPTER XI.

JcMeph Mid hit ion go before the kiDg. Evalacb*8 doubts. A
heathen clerk*B olrjeotions to the doc^ne of the Trinity (p.
94-5). Joflephea answers, — EN'alaoh shall be given up to
his enemy for three days and nights (p. 95), and the
heathen olerk is straok dumb and blind (p. 97). Evalach
asks if he can escape (p. 98). Tes ; by believing in Christ
(p. 98). All go to the heathen temple (p. 98). The devil
in the image of Man smashes all the images (p. 99).
Bvalach asks the devil why it has done this ( — ^because

— _

> MSceet

'— * mais por oe qu*il estoit plus religieus que nus des
autres. H8 Add 10^292, leaf 11« ooL 2, near foot

94 BVALAOH DOUBTS CHBISt's BIBTH, AND THE TRINITT. [oH. ZI^

Joseph's two angels compelled it — ), and whether the
clerk struck dumb and blind will recover, and whether he
shall prerail against the Egyptians (p. 100). The devil
confesses he knows nothing about it (p. 101).

TlMKlns*!
iiMMensor ooBOM.

Jowph to prove
flntfhowtbe
Trinity oan b«
Unity; .

S. of the Virgin's
▼irginlty ;
8.orCtarlit't
conception
without oeraal
esaemblaffe.
JoMph repeats
bie former
proof (Ch. VI.).
A dark ol^eots.

thstifallthne

arecmlyooe

deity,

then eeoh can-
not be perfect
Qodj

and if etch hae
entire €k>dheada
thm there are
three Qods.

[• leafl8,coL>]

If the Holy
Ghoet ie perfoet

Atant vint 11 messages le roi, si dist a ioseph ke li
rois le mandoit ke il alast a lui parler. Lois en
alerent deuant lui entre ioseph & son fil, & quant il
issiient hots du palais si fiient sour aus le signe de la
croisy & eommandeient as autres ke il foissent en
orisons et en proieres pour le roi eualach, que dies, qui
estoit auoiemens des desuoies, li dounast venir a la vole
de uerite. Et quant il ftirent venu deuant le roi, si les
commanda li rois a seoir, & si dist a ioseph qu'il li
prouast che ke il auoit ier dit del pere & del fil & del
saint espmt, comment il pooient estre trois persones &
vne seule deites ; & comment la puchiele auoit enfante
sans son puchelage malmetre ; Et comment H fiex pooit
estre concheus sans carnal couuine d*ome & de feme.
Quant 11 rois eut che dit, si se drecha ioseph, & 11 dist
Ichele meisme raison que 11 11 auoit dite a Tautre fois,
& en chele meisme manleere^ 11 prouua. Et qt^nt 11
eut che dit, si se drecha vns clers. Chll estoit teilus a
plus sages & a plus fondes de la loy. Gliil patla en-
contre ioseph, & dist ke 11 ne dlsolt riens. Car se 11
peres & 11 fiez & 11 sains esperis n'auoient c*une delte,
dont n*estolt mle cascuTis d'aus trois par sol entlers
dlez ne parfais. Et se U yololt dire ke 11 peres fQJst
entlers dlez & parfais, dont n'l prendrolt noldnt la per-
sone du fil & du sains esperlt. Et se eles auolent am-
bedeus cascune sa delte enterine, dont serrolent chou trois
deites, che ne porroit nus horn contredire raisnablement.
Car nus horn qui che contredit, ne porroit apertement
prouer ne metre en uolr, ke nule des *trois persones n'eust
entire delte en lui, ou nule des autres fast amenteue.
Car la ou on dit ke 11 sains esperis est parfais dies ^ &

> So m MS. ' dies, MS Addit 10,292, leaf 11, ool. 3.

CH. JlJ] JOSBPHES THREATENS EVALACH FOR HIS UNBELIEF* 9&

entiers, ne [que H li troi n'ont c'une seule deite en lai ou Ood and otM,

nule des autres, par chou xnoustre on que li yns yaut twoannobodiM.

autrestant comme li tioL Et se ch'est yoirs ke li vns

yaiUe autrestant comme li troi, dont est il voirs que li

troi sont noiens en Ueu ou li tiers est amenteus. Et

puis ke les .ij. persones pierdent ensi lor forche par la An4ifth«two

ATS nothini^,

tierchey dont puet tons li mons veoir et counoistre thraMcheui-
apiertement ke chascune de les trois n'a mie deite par- ood.
faite ne entiere." Quant chil eut si durement parle
enoontre la trinite, si fu ioseph moult esbahis de fauses JoMphisoon*

, foundtd {

proeues ke clul li a auant traites, si ne sent mie main-
tenant respondre a fauser^ chou k'il auoit dit^ car
nostie signour ne plot mie. Lors se drecha iosephes, & tmt jompdm

nddrciiOT Evi^

si parla haut si ke <}o tous fu clerement ois, & si dist iMh,
au roi pr^mierement : '^Bois, escoute ke ie te dirai.
Che te mande par moi le dies de israel, li crieres de
toutes cboses, & si dist a toi: ' Pour chou que tu as andteiiflhini

. * , .J . , th»t beoanie he

amenes tes urns plaideois encontre ma creanche, pour hu brought ua
chou ai iou estahli a prendre si grant venianche de ton ag^nst hii
cors que tu cheiras anchois que li tiers lours soit brin«M>re*^t-
passes en yne si grant mesauenture que tu ne quideras |||!|^i^*^)^
que nule riens viuans te puisse garandir de perdere toute ^'^
t^rriene hauteche premierement, & ton cors apres.' Et
si prendra diex cheste iustiche de toi, pour chou que tu
ne veus recheuoir la creanche de son glorious non,
Anchois as despite & nuse auers la demonstranche que And beeaaaa be

haa detpbed the

11 te fist anuit de ses secres & de ses miracles que U te reveution or

Ctod'a Mcrets t9

descouuri en auision. Pour chou te mande li diex des him in hisdnam,
crestijens par la bouche de son sergant qui parole a his mortal enamy
toiy qu'iL donra a ton anemi mortel gloire et honour & ^^thm daya"^ <
essauchement sour toi trois iouis Sc trois nuis^ Car ta "****^"*« ^
for*che ne porra contrester, ne tes cors n'osera atendre C* i«^i8,baok]
celui qtti onkes forche ne pent auoir mais encontre toi,
ne mais de cheste fois qu'il Va desconfit, par le traison
de tea consiUeurs qtd se sont a lui toume par les dons.
* sauser, MS Beg. ; fauBser, MS Addit 10,292, If 11, col 3, at foot.

96 J0SEPHE8 SATS KINO THOLOMES WILL INVADE SARRAS. [CH. XI.

And to vtrify it
JoMpbet ujIb

that Tholomet,
KlngofBabj-
Ion, bM made
readj hit foroM
and wiU attack
Svalaah,

and pnnna hla
and pat him in
ftarofdtath.

JoMpb«s next
tells the oldect-
ing heathen
derk^

PlCSton]

that, ae he has
blasphemed
Ood'sened
and dishomooxed
Htsnamsk

[• leaf 18» back,

eoL83

and has been

dumb and bUnd

in spirltoal

knowledgCa

Ood WiU strike
him dnmb and
bUnd.

Ensi te mousten^ li diex des crestiens ke nule creature
ne puet durer qui n'est apparillie a son commBudement,
Ke ia ne lecouuerras la grant hauteche ke tu coTit*
menches a perdere, se par I'aide de clielui ne le
lequieres. Et se tu de cheste chose me tiens a men-
coingeur, tu orras par tans teles nouieles par quoi tu
porras sauoir qt^e no^^res sires m'a demoustre aucune
chose de tes auentures. Et si saches bi^n de uoir, ke
tholomes li fuitis, qui est lois de babyloines, a tout son
effort apparelliety & vient sour toi moult ireement.
Et si dist li rois des crestijens : * En la main au felon
egyptijen liuerrai iou. le roi mescouneu, par chou ke il
me fuit & mescounoist. Et chil qui tous iours a este
fuitis, encachera chelui qui tous iours I'a cachie, & si le
menra iusc'a paour de mort Car ie li voel faire esprou-
uer ke ie sens sui li xois des rois & la forteche de tous les
pules.'" Apres se touma iosephes vers chelui qui
auoit si durement parle encontre la trinite, & si li dist :
'' Escoute, tu qui as parle encontre la sainte creanche
au dieu des crestijens. Or enten ke il te demande par
la bouche de son^ serf qui a toi parole. 'Tu, fait il, qui
ies ma creature, & qui en tous lieus deusses obeir a mon
eommandement^ tu as ma creanche blasmee & mon non
deshonre. Et pour chou ke ie voel ke tu saches ke tu
as parle encontre chelui qui a pooir & sour toi & sour
toutes choses autres, pour chou te ferai iou sentir una
desbatemens de ma iustiche terriene ; Si ke tu le 30uf-
fenas, & li autre se castieront par toL Car tu as en
tous iours la terriene scienche, ne onqu6S Tesperitel ne
Vausis counoistre, ne goute n'i pooies veoir ; et se tu
en uausisses parler, tu n'en sens onques dire uoir. Et
pour chou ke tu as este mus & awles en Tesperitel
science, qui tu deusses cler veoir, & de qui tu deusses
tenir toute la parole, pour chou te mousterrai iou ke la
terriene scienche ne puet riens encontre Tesperitel.
Car ie te taurai, voiant tous chiaus qui sont chaiens^ la

CH. zlJ thb disbelieyixq clerk is struck dumb and blind. 97

t^rriene parole & la yeue. Car ines esperia est de tel

forchey ke il feia les hien emparles a muir, & les der

veanB awlir ; si fera les mus hien parler, Ss les awles cler

Teoir.'" Tantost ke ios6pli[es] eat che dit, si perdi chil

la parole, & quant il yaut parler, si senti deuant sa Th^derkbt-

bouche yne main qui li licit la langhe ; Mais il ne le

pooit yeoir. £t il se drecha poor plus efforchier de and uind.

parleij Mais si tost com il fa leaes. Si ne yit nole

goate des ieox. Et quant il senti choa, si commencha ,

si duiemeTit a mail qtie on Tooit tout clerement d'ausi

loing com on porroit traire yne saiete. Et si estoit aais

a teas chiaus qui Tooient^ ke che fast yns toiiaas. Et

quant li aatre yirent cheste m^nielle, si en farent nuTult Th« peopi« are

cooiechiet^ & coararent teat sas iosephe, si Teussent Ikjm^m!^

tout depechie a lor pooirs. Mais li rois eaalach sailli BnOaeh seiiaa

• o • A A J ••i> 1* sword and

en pies, & prist yne espee toate nae, si lara la poissancne swean he'u put

joais qu'il feroit teas cbiaas destraire & liarer a mort uyhl^i^*"

qui en lai meteroient la main. Car dent Taroit il trai, '~*p**^

se il Taacit mande en sa maison, & il ne le garandissoit.

Ensi leua le tamulte par la sale. & li rois apiela iosephe. He aaks Joaephea

& li demanda qai il estoit. Et ioseph se traist aaant,

si dist qu'il estoit ses fiex. Et li rois respoTidi ke moult

parloit hieiif & qu'il estoit yoir disans en maintea

cboses. Apres li demanda comment U auoit tolue la and how be took

parole & la yeae a cnelui qui aaoit pane encontre lai. from hu op-

£t *iosephes respondi qu'il ne Ten aaoit rien tola; [MMfi8,back,

Mais li dies des crestiens contre qai il aaoit parle, ' '

Ichil li aaoit tola & parole & yeae. Car che estoit li

diez de qai la parole ne seroit ia faasee pour nalai ;

Ensi com il commandoit, coaaenoit toates choses a

estre. ** Goament, dist eoalach, est il dent yoirs ke and whether it

- is true that

tholomes li fnitis menmerra lasca paoar de mort, & Thoiomea ahaii

o jt r. .... p ... • o» pot him In fear

ara sour moi pooir & forche .uj. loars oc ly. naisi of death, and
** Chertes, dist iosephes, il est aoirs qu'il n'est nas hom owffm thwe
yiaans par qai il paist estre faases." Et li rois li J^i"^"*"*
demanda comment il pooit choa saaoir. " Dont, n'as

OBAAL. 7

9d STALACH ASKS WHETHER HE CAN ESCAPE WITH HIS LIFE. [CH. XL

bataaksifhe
ouiaaoap«it.

Tea, hj noelTiaf
the belief of
JeeueChiiet,

not only in word,
boiinhenrt.

[•leaMff]

The elerk straek
damb and blind
la taken to the
heathen temide^
to the image of
ApoUOt

tu oi, dist iosephes, que li esperis au dieu des crestijens
est de si grant forche, ke il fait les mus parler & les
awles yeoir clerl Ch'est a dire, ke clul qui n'ont lien
seu de clergie counistront toute la forclie des escriptores
par le grasce de son saint esprit." " Tar foi, dist li
rois, s'il anient ensi com tn as cbi conte, le vanroie
asses miex estre mors ke vis. Mais il n'est nule riens
ke ion en peusse croire. Ne pour quant, si ai ion yen
yne de tes paroles auenir/' ^* Bois, dist iosephes, quant
tn yenas qu'il serra auenn, dont m'en croL'' " £t en
porrai ion, dist il, escaper)'' ''Chertes, dist il, oil,
par vne seule chose." " Et quele sera ele 1 " dist li
rois. '* Je le te dirai, dist iosephes. Se tu rechois la
creancbe ihesa crist, que tu le croies parfitement, de
quele eure que tu le rechoiues, tu aras secours & de-
liuranche. Mais hien saches de uoir, que ia pour chose
ke la bouche die, se li cuers n'i est, ne sera deliures.
Car diex n'est pas horn qu'on puisse engingnier ne
decheuoir par samblant; Anchois est de si paffaite
sapiense qu'il counoist tons les penses des gens, & uoit
parmi les cuers toutes les repostailes qui i sont." Lors
li demanda H rois comment il eetoit apieles. & li dist
qu'il estoit apieles iosephes. £t li rois li redist : " Ore
me di, iosephe, de che*lui qui a perdue la parole & la
veue, se il recouuerra iamais." '^ Eois, dist iosephes,
Ore le fai porter deuant tons les diex ke tu aoures ; et
si orra[s] ke il te responderont et de sa garison & de ta
hataille." Lors le fist porter el temple, si i ala il
meismes, & iosephes, Ss ses peres. £t quant li prouoire
de la loy Teurent ofiTert al autel appolin qui il apielent
le dieu de sapiense, si demanderent al ymage qui estoit
sour I'autel comment chil gariroit iamais. Mais onqu^
tant ne seurent demander a chele ymage ke il onques
en peussent parole traire. £t li rois vint auant, si li
demanda qu'il H dist a quel fin il uenroit de cheste
guerre. Mais il n'en puet onques auoir respons ne ke

CH. XI.] A DEVIL OUT OF MARS DESTROYS THE HEATHEN IMAGES. 99

li autre. Et yds djables qui estoit en Tymage martis, a deru in the
ke il claiment le dieu de bataille, commencha a crier : erilf^at uiat •
" Foles gens, ke ales vous atendant f il a en noatre eomr hMbSSd"**'*
paignie vn crestijen ki a si loie apolin par le coniure- i2*^S.^Iic
ment de i1ie«u crist son dieu, qu'il n*& nul pooir de
you8 respondre. Ne ia nus dies en lieu ou il soit
n'oseia douner respons, ne ne porra, puis ke il ara
eotiiuie." & maintenant que li dyables eut eke dit, si
commencha si durement a crier ke il fu auis a tous
chiaus qui estoient el temple qu'il fust en yn fii ardant.
£nsi disoit) "ka, Josephe, eueske ihera crist, kusse ThederUoffen
okou ester ke tu dis, car tu me fais ardoir, & ie m'en- «?«- Jowph«g
fiiirai de si la u tu commanderas." Ensi crioit li dyables
qui estoit en I'jmage martLs par le eoniurement que
iosepbes li auoit fait. Car il le destraingoit si dure-
ment, & tant le iusticha, ke il issi bors de Tymage, &, itgoMoat*
uoiant tous cbiaus qui estoient el temple, abati Tymage the image of
a terre, & si le debrisa toute par menues piecbes. Et {fbTpiowe^'^*^
qtiant il eut cbou fait, si prist yn aigle d'or moult grant, then the dewi
qui estoit sour Tautel au eonsel, si en feri si durement ApoUoonthe ^
I'ymage appolin en mi le *vis, ke il li pecboia le nes "^LSw.ooli]
& le brach destre. Apres s'en ala par toutes les i^fiJ^i dJ?*
ymages del temple, si n*i remest onques ymage qui il ne JJJJJJ^ °"**'
ferist de cbel aigle tant qu'il H pecbeoit aucun des
membres. De cbeste cbose furent les gens moult The people an
espoente qui estoient el temple; Gar il veoient les
meruelles que icbele aigle faisoit, Mais il ne pooient
yeoir cbelui qui la tenoit. Et cb'estoit la cbose pour
quoi il estoient plus espoente & plus esbabL Lois
apiela li rois Josepbe, & si li demanda qua cbe pooit svsiaoh eeke
estre qui ensi depecboit cbes ymages. & iosepbes li hae broken the
respondi qu'il I'alaist demander al autel martis. Et il "°''^*
j ala, si Taut sacrefier, mais josepbes ne li laissa ; ains Joeephes telle

. - him to eak et the'

dist qu6 s'il faisoit tel sacrefisse, il morroit de mort eiturofMan.
soubitei Et quant li rois eut demande respons a He doee, and the
I'autely Si dist li dyables qu'il n'osoit a lui parler pous aepheTttope^iin.

100 THS DEVIL BBABS WITNESS TO JOSEPHES'S POWER. [CH. XI.

iosepbe. £t li rois li demanda s'il auoit si grant pooir
sour les dieus. Et li djables li dist que nus diex ne
pooit parler deuant lui se il ne Ten dounoit congior
£t li rois pria iosephe que il li dounoit congie de
JowphMgivM parler. & iosephes li donna. £t li dyables dist an roi :

tb« devil leare *" ^ -^

totp«UK;ftndu ''KoiB, Tcus ta sauoir pour qnoi il a si grant pooir f

tolls Eralach .

that joMphat H a .ij. angeles anoec lui qui le conduisent & gardent

hu always tvo . ■• i. m • j^- . i»

angeu with him, p^r tous les lieus ou il Ta, SI tieut li vns vne espee
mni, the^othw toute nue, & 11 autres vne crois. £t li doi m'ont tena
anTtiuIy hara ^^ ^^ destroit par SOU (sommandement qu'il m'ont fait
v^utaan!^ ^ depechier toutes clies ymages ensi com tu vois. Ke
iamaiB nus dies n'ara pooir de doner respons ou lieu
ou clus horn soit, tel poeste li a done ' ihera^ oris ses
Thakin^aaks diex." Apres li demanda li rois se chil qui auoit

thedcTUwheUitr '^ ...

the man atnick pierdu la parole & les iex recouuerroit iamais sante.

dnmb and blind

wiu raoo?er. £t li djables li dist, '* rois, se il garist, cbe ne sera mie

The devil aaya, m_ '. 9

*Not by my p^r no^rre uirtu ; '

power.

[Oerpaixs, leaf ** For tbat power hayen not we'
I haT^none to HiTH hol to Maken In non degre ;

make him wboW ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^

Be him that him it leide vppon ; i

And elles but he wele him hele sende,
Be YS get he non In non £nde."
Kraiacfa aaka, Thanne Axede him the king Anon tho
on if I flffht tha * Howgh Ajens the Egipciens he scholde do ; 8

SgypUanaP"

' MS dona, altered.

' The Bojal MS xiv. £ 3 continues — *' Et nous n*en i peons
point auoir : anohoU 0<muenra ke chil le garisse par qvi ^owt-
mBndemeni il a en le n)a1, ou se ohe non, 11 n^en garira iamais.*'
[* leafia, ool 8] Lors li demanda U ^rois, 'a qti^l fin il uenroit se il se conbatoit
as eg3rptyen8.' Et 11 dyables dist, ' que il n'auoit nul pooir
del* dire tant com li horn dieu i serroit.* Et iosephes salli
auant, Sc si li dist : " Je te coniur de par la forche de la sainte
trinite, ke tu li dies uoir." Et respond! li dyables, *qve 11 n*en
sauoit rien de che qull li estoit a auenir. Ne nus ne le puet
sauoir, se par ih^ra crist non.* An illustration follows, for the
next chapter, of the messenger coming to Evalach.

' The pages containing the English lines 1 — 492, are bound
at the end of the Corpus MS, but there is a pencil foot-note
saying that they belong to the commencement.

CH. XII.] THE DEVIL CONFESSES HIS lONOBANCE OF FUTURE EVENTS. 101

^if with hem heeld he Ony bataille.

In what Manere it myhte him Availle.*

Thanne the devel him Answerid ful sonei

" Jjere-Oflfen Answers mown we jeveu J>* none :

Tyl that goddis Man be Owt past.

Of V8 An Answere non thow hast."

Thanne spak Josephes there Anon Eyht,

" I Coniouie the be the vertu of God Almyht,

And be the myht Also Of the Trenite,

That the sothe heie thou schewe to me."

And the devel him Answerid Agein

" That he ne Cowde not In Certein ;

Of thing that was to Come, he Cowde not telle,

What Aventuie so that him Eu^re befeUe."

'Weaw'tuuwtr
12 yoatUl God's
man bM goB*.'

16 XoMphM eo^JOFit
the (tovU to t«U
him tht trath.

Aadth0d«vIl
conftaipi that he
20 knoira nothing of
thinga tooonw.

CHAPTER XII.

The invasion by Tholomes and the Egyptians of Eyalach*B land ;
Evalach's summons to his yassals (p. 108) ; Josephes's
counsel to him, — Josephes tells him his history, that he was
a cobbler's son at Meauz, in France (p. 104), was sent to
Rome as part of the hostage demanded by Augustus (p.
106), then on to Erl Felis of Svlle, whose son he slew (p.
106), and fled to Tholomes King of Babyloyne, for whom
he conquered all the land of Sarras (p. 106-7), that therefore
he must be humble, and remember Ck>d, as he will be three
days and three nights in Tholomes's power (p. 107-8, 110) ;
Evalach asks for the means of victory (p. 108-9) ; Josephes
tacks a cross of red cloth on to his shield (p. 109), and tells
him to look on it in his need, and pray to God, and he
shall be saved (p. 110). Evalach marches to Tarabel and
Yalachim (p. 111). The Castle Yalachim described (p.
112). Evalach's army enter a forest, and send out a spy
(p. 113) ; they attack Tholomes, but lose men, and flee to
Castle Comes (p. 114). Tholomes pursues (p. 114) ; while
Evalach*s men plunder his tents (p. 115). A spy next
day tells Tholomes that Evalach is in Comes with a very
few men (p. 116), and so Tholomes marches after him
with half his force, leaving the other half with Yabus hi9
steward to watch Castle Yalachim (p. 117).

102

THOLOICBB RAVAOES E7ALACH 8 REALM.

[CH. XIL

AmMMiiffer
oomet to King
Bralaoh

with Mini

thatTbolomM
hu ioTidad hifl

and waited it op
to Cutl* Val»>

withM^hoTM

Mid 40,000 Ibot,

andlutfiwom
thai

hell be croinied
King in Sams.

EraJaeh is cast
down in heart.

And In the mene while Of this talking
Cometh A messenger tho to the king,
And knelid to-fom him vppon kis kne :
" Sire kyng, newe tjdinges I bringe to ^* 4

That ben bothe Evel and perylouSi
Of Tholomes king so dispetous ;
Into thi lond now Entred he Is,
And with him gret strengthe wtt^-owten Mis ; 8

And Oiiable thi Cite they han take,
And AbowtecT In-virown thei don wrake,
That so the Contre distroied is be him
Into the Castel Of valachim. 12

For On hors-bak with him don Bide
Twenty thonsend be his side,
And On foote Also there ben

Fonrti thowsend Men hameysed Clen ;^ 16

And )if that Castel he mown haue,
Nothing Of thi loud wil he save ;
Ke thens wil he non fote gon

Til they ben jolden £u6richon ; 20

[Fo]r that Is now the stre gest hold
[In] thi lond be Manye a fold.
And ^ his Avow Made he there
(That Alle his Meyne gan it to here) 24

That Owt Of that Contre wold he not pas
Tyl he were Crowned king In sarras," —
Whiche that was the Chef Cite
Of king Eualach his lond, I telle the.— 28

And whanne the king herde him thus sein,
Sore he him Abaschte In Certein ;
And jit the more Abascht was he pleinli
For the wordis that losephes spak Openli, 32

' That thre dayes & thie Nyht
In hia Enemyes daunger to be Owtriht,

' MS Reg. xiv E 3 reads ' a. xxz. mille homes a pie.* [MS
Add. \S^ chiualers, et a £, hommes a pie * : 90,000 in all.]

CH. ZII.] EVALACH BUHUONS HIS VASSAIit TO DBIVB OUT THOLOXES. 1Q3

And that to the prikke Of deth he schold be browht ; '

And this Euere was In Eoalach^ thowht ; 36

But for }ai he was A man Of so gret piowesse,

He made non semhlannt Of non distiesse,

But Ajens herte he made good Cheie,

[SJeenge Alle tho that there were, 40

[A]nd swor Anon he his Creaunce,

' That what so him Euere happede he chaunce,

3if At that sege he myhte him fjnde^

He wold don him Kemeve be som kynde.' 44

Anon his sonde he dide to sende
Oner Al tho, Into Euerich ende,
To Alle tho that Of him took Ony fe,
' Anon with him that thei scholden be, 48

And On the Morwe to ben Gadering
Atte Castel Of Tarabe^ wttA-owten Taiyenge/
That twenty Miles firom sarras Is,
And fro valachim Sixtene, More ne Mis, 52

Where As Tholomes Atte Sege was. ' .

Thus Abowten sent Eualach Into Everi plas ;
Thus Abowtes be his sel he sente,
' That Eche man scholde don his Ente[nte], 56

That weren weldy Armes to here,
Ajens here Enemyes to fensen hem there.
And ho that Ajens his Comandementiff were,
What so he be that it doth there, 60

His lordschepe from him wil he take,
And but Eyht A povre Man him Make.'

And On the Morwe the king gan to remeve.
And losephes to him Cam to taken his leve ; 64

" Sir6 kyng, hennes thou gynnest to Go,
But thow ne west what forto do ;
Eor thou ne Art seker to Comen Again,
But there forto dyen In Gertein. 68

> MS Beg. ' tarabiel' ; Add. * carabel * (leaf 12, ool. 8 at
Ibot).

batnukwDO
■IgnoCdbtrvM.

He BirMn hell
tomTholooiee
Cleftfl97,ool.2j
oot.

and then tends to
allhlflTiasala

to meet him

at CMUe Tanbel.

erery man able to
beararme,

miderpalnof
losing hia land.

AaEvalaehia
going to march,
Joaephea teUa him

he doean't knoir
what the end wiU
be.

104 JOSEPHES TELLS EYALACH HE WAS A SHOEHAK£B*S BON, [CH. XIL

God bids him

rem«mbcrwlMiiM
hetpnag;

he WBs born In
France,

nt Metvx, a poor
■hoemaker'e eon.

For when Aa«
gnetus wM
emperor,

and Chrial wae
bom.

he feared he
ahonld loee hie
empire.

But thus My God sente Onto the

Be me his Servaunt, As thou myht se,

' That thow scholdest Eemembren ihe wel

Of whom thow Come Everydel,

And of what Maner kynde & of lynage

Thow Art I-Come to this high parage.

But thou Bupposist that noman it knowe ;

But I Can the tellen Al be Eowe.

Be the grace Of my God Almyht

I schal the telle, I the A-plyht ;

For Conceil may fere non heled be

From him that Sit In Maieste.

Thow were bom In fravnce lond,

As the holi gost me doth vndirstond,

In A Old Cite Of fraunce, As I wene.

That Miaux is Called there bedene ;

And there thow were A pore Mannes sone.

That to Maken schon was thanne his wone ;

And this Owghtest thow to knowen ful wel,

For thow it hast Sein this EyerydeL

For whanne Augustus Cesar Emperour was

Of Rome xxxij jer ; In that plas

He wende king Of Alle kinges haue ben ;

And so it him thowhte that it was sen ;

But Crist of Marie was bom

In his tyme^ that I Rehersed befom,

That tho king Of Alle kynges was

Thorwgh the world In Every plas.

And whanne here-Offen herde August»« Cesar

Be hise Clerkis that weren bothe wis & war,

Thanne he gan to wexen Gretly In dowte

Lest Of his Empire to putten him Owte,

And that Al the Contre Of Home Abowte,

To that lord scholde/i worschepen & dowte.

Thanne Niste he Not what forto don.

But Abowtes Al Home he sente Anon ;

I

72

76

80

U

88

92

96

100

104

CH. XU J AND CHOSEN BT LOT IN FRANCE TO BE SENT TO HOME. 105

Thorwgh Owt Al that Centre pr 197, bk, ool ij

Anon his Messengeres sente he,

* That Euery man & womman Also Soheontewdiu

" folk to paj him a

To him A peny scholde ^elden tho, 108 p«nj ■• trfbou.

As In Manere Of A knowelechinge,

As In weye Of Soiettis to here kynge.

And, bencheson^ that Fraunce was thanne BatorFinnMiM

Of Anothir Maner kende Of Manne, 112

To hem he sente In this Manere

As, Sire, I the schal now tellen here :

An hundred knyhtes be trews Aftir he sente, 100 kniffbta, and

And Aflir An hundred knyhtes dowghtren presente, <uaghton, tIiw

That Maidenis scholde ben Everichon, — jjy »»»^

And thus his Messages Gonne forth to gon, —

And An hundred knave children Al In fere, «id 100 boja not

ont !!▼• Jinn

Not passeng the Age thanne of fyve jere, 120 old.

But Bathere lasse thanne Ony More ;
That time this was his Comaundement thore.
And whanne these ty dinges weren Comen Into &aunce, Then in ermy

FrwMh olty

Mochel they M^rveilled thanne Of this Chaunce; 124

And thanne Chosen they In Euery Cite

Be lot, As that time here hap myhte be. Xauwwcagti

So thanne it happed, As I telle now the,

That Owt Of Miaux that Cite, 128 andootorMMax

W9ra choMn two

That tweyne Maydenes Chosen weren for sothe, midd«na, th« ewi

And that An Erlis dowghtren weren thei bothe danghtez^

Hos Name was Erl Of Siuayn,

That lord of Miaux was, & Of the Centre Certain. 132

And whanne the lot on hem |)us gan falle,

Thanne mosten thei forth nedis with Alle ;

And vppon the,* tho, fyl the tother lot, •adjrou.ETaLM*,

Where ^u myhtest ben Excused not, 136

For thow were At the Age Of fyve jer.

And Also these Maidenis bothe briht & Cler;

> < be encheson,' by occasion, because.
* * thee ' is often written * the.* See 1. 114, 140, 149, 167| ko.

IOC

J08EPHBB TELLS EYALACH HIS PAST LIFE.

[CH. XIL

Mid all thrM of
yoa wtn Mnt to
Borne.

Ton wtn wvj
boaattftil.

Ai to, both-

ThiBTibtdM

Mnt jaa to Earl
FaliflofSjria,

who bald 70a

Bntyoadawhia
•Idwt ton la a
quaml.

and than want to
Tholomaa of
BabUon,

Of 197, bk, coL t j

wboknightad
you,

That so wit these Maydenes forth vrete pon led,

As to-fore I haue here now to the Seid. 140

And whanne that to Eome ^e weren I-Come,

The peple Abowtes jow Cam On A throme.

And 30W gonnen faste to beholde :

je hadden tho Of Bewte so Manifolde. 144

And whanne thow were comen to twenty^ ^ere,

Thanne bothe Maidenes deyden Byht there ;

For the ton ne lyred After the tothir

But thre Monthes, It was non Othir. 148

Thanne Aftyr, the took Tiberius Sesar,
That Af tir Augustus was empfrour thar,
And the hadde tho Ryht In gret Cherte,
And to An £rl the sente for thi bewte — * 152
Erl Felys he hyghte Of Svlie,—
To him were thow lad In hie :
And whanne that thow to him were browht,
Fill mochel thow werg Euere In his thowht, 156

For the ftd dere to him he held ;
And After ful Evele didest thou him ^eld.
For it befil that vppon A day

His Eldest sone & thou wenten to play, 160

That so In Anger je fillen tho bothe,
That there thow 'slows his sone forsothe.
And whanne thou haddes thus him slo,
Thanne to Tholomes^ gonne thou go, 164

That Of babiloyne thilke time king was,
And werre he held Ajens Olifemus ;
For Olifemus king was riht tho wtt^uten d[owte]
There As now thow Art Of Al the Contre Abowte. 168
And Anon As thow to him were gon.
There A knyht he made the Anon ;
And so moche love thanne he Caste to the,
That Amongd Al his Ost he ^af the powste ; 172

• MS Reg^ '.xx.' ; MS Add. *.xii.'

* MS Beg* ' tholome oerastre ' ; MS Add. * thdlonieB oe iastre.'

CH. XII.] JOSBFHBS WARNS BYALAOH AGAINST BBINQ PROUD. 107

And Aboven Alle Otliere he 3af the powers,

Oner Alle his Ost to Gou^me^i there, wtijon oTeran

hli host, and, m

For that thow were Of so gret prowesse yoa beat hit fbet.

Of Manhod, & ful Of hardinesse, 176

So that On his Enemys Avenged he was.

And hem distroiede In that plas.

And thanne to the aaf he that lond, pot bia imd

whoUj inyoor

And there holich put it Into thin hond. 180

Now myhtest [thou] knowen & yndyistonde, Toq sm that i

^^ know who TOQ

That I knowe whennes & of what londe «n.

That thou were bothen bigeten & bom, —

Ilk As I haue the Behersed befom, — 184

And from so gret povert to hy dignete ;

Bemembio the wel what I telle the ;

And therfore the sente to sein be me

The grete God of Al Cristientey 188 And ood has

thorelbre Mnt mo

That Of thi self thow schost han Minde ; to naund

And thowgh fat vnder, ^ou hast men of gret kynde.

And Moche peple In bataiUe f^ Abowte,

In herte scholdest thou not be prowte : 192 70a not to be

proad In heart,

For thi lyges, they^ nothing ben, Hthina. Fr.ai*

But As A wardein hem to besen ; iige; ne to n'en

And therfore haue thou this In Mende, s^^^i

For but As On Man thow Art Of kendo, 196
And As sone* deyen thow schal toryoaihaUdia

■^ as toon aa the

As the porest Man doth Ou^r^ ; poorest;

Therfore scholdest thow be powre & Mek, ^ ^^ Aieonc]

And vppon thi Creatour beleven Ek, 200

That Into this world p* made forth go,

For with-Owten him thow myht not do ;

And aif thou like not him for thi kyng to holde, ^^J"^^

7 "^ ** not take God aa

Owt Of thi regno bou cost Ryht Mani-folde : 204 yoor King, oot of

^ ' ^ " your thxone 70a

For wel may he be Clepid A kyng, so.

That Endeles lasteth euere his Beyneng ;

This is Crist Goddis sone Of hevene,

That Into Y Maide Alyhte be thaungelis steTone. 208

108 J08EPHES THREATENS SVALAOH FOB HIS UNBELIEF. [CH. Xlt

For Alle Mennes hertes he doth knowe,
And Alle here thowghtes yppon A rowe ;
Heihaii pntyoa & bat the schal putten Into thin Enemy es hond,

into your foM' '^ '^ ^ i

httida, and thtn And Aftir the deliueren, thou yndirstond ; 212

For that ther nys non lord ne^er (xod but he
To whom Ony honour longeth to be.
Wherfore, as Only On god & Almyhty^
Thow Owest him to worschepyn al Only ; 216

For bothe this torment & this Noysance
He the now sendeth, for his Creaunce

bMUMjroa Thow hast Refused, & £k his lore

Tofaigd to bcUcfv

hiadootriiM That he in Avicion hath schewed before." 220

Tiflion, ^^ Thanne seide king Eualach Anon Agein,

<< Maister losephes, I preie W telle me plein

What that Avisioun was forto Mene,

That thou it woldest declaren me Clene." 224

whidi ra « Certes," quod losephes, " nay how so be&lle,

•zplain wImb

yoa'vtbrokMi Tyl thow hsue broken thy Mawmettis alld,

your Idoliy and

beitoTt la God.* And that in theke high lord to hauen ful Creaunce

That the May deliueren from Alle Noysaunce. 228
And Alle lyreng thing enstabUsched Is,
Wheche that Y heyest king Is of blys."

[iMf 196, o6L 1] << FBle my Creance," quod Eualach tho.

STalaoh: 'Toa l J .^ » t.

Mid that if rd ^ This Bataylle myn herte goth sore ynto ; 232

yoa'dgiTemo And bothe jouTd fadyr & Ek JO

nj iSl* ^^ Of Riht good Conceyl behygten me ;

jyf that I wolde On 90W beleye,

je seiden Ryht wel that I scholde preve 236

Be wheche yictorie of myne Enemys to have^

And Aftir my deth my sowle to save."

'' Certein, Sire," quod losephes tho,
•80 ood will. " That Conceil I the jaf, & jit Mo, 240

jif thow wilt On him beleven stedfiEistly,

And him worschepen As Almyhty.
And if 70a don't And vil thow wilt not don As I the teche.

Be war lest god wele taken wzache ; 2i4

CH. Zn.] JOSSPHES TACKS A RED CROSS ON EYALACH'S SHIELD. 109

And but thow him worscliepe As me fon seest,

In body & sowle distroyed thou beest

Of him that Of Alle thinges Is domes man ;

The helpen & socoure ful wel he Can.'' 248

" Now Certein," quod this Eualach y king,
''And 3e wolden ^even me swich conseilling
That Of Myn Enemyes yictorie to haue,
And therto my lif that he wolde save, — 252

On him Onliche I wolde beleve,^
And Al my Creaunce I wele Repreve."

Thanne spak Anon losephes to the kyng :
** Now herkeneth, Sire, to my talkyng.
Do bringe now thi scheld to-fore me,
And Anothir Man^r thing schalt thow se."
And whanne this scheld to-fore losephes was.
Anon he Comanded In that plas 260

A lytel pece thanne Of cloth so red
To-fore him be browht Into that sted.
And the kyng Anon with fat biddinge
A pece Of Bed Silk he dyde him bringe, 264

And kutte there-offe two peces Anon
In the sihte of hem Echon, —
Eche pece A Eote of lengthe was,--*
Wher-offen A Crois he made In that plas,
And takked it yppon the kynges scheld,
Wherwith he Rod thanne Into y fold.
And whanne thus he hadde don.
To kyng Eualach thanne spak he Anon :
" Syxt thow now this signs that I haue Mad 1 '*
'' je forsothe," thanne kyng Eualach Said.
" Certes," quod losep/ie*,^ " I telle it the,
What Manere Of Man so Eyere he be, 276

And he wele stedfastli belevene On this.
Were he neuere in so moche sorwe Ofer distres.

7oa*n be de-
stroTcd, bodj and
■ouL"

'iryoaHmakt
BM beat my foes,
and God 11 Mv«
njlift,

inioerUtnly
baliere on him.'

JoMphtatdls
BraUeh to bring
256 hlsahlald.

■odaUtofrad
doUi.

268 Of this, Joaephaa
makeaaeroasy
tacks it on
Eralach'B ahiald.

272

and tails Umy

MS beleleve.

* MS losep.

110 Christ's gboss shall give evalach victobt. [gh. xu.

That be ne sclial Anon deliuered jbe
Of Alle Manere deseisse And Adu^rsite. 280

And therfore, honoure thon this, I Charge the.
In woT8che[pe] Of him that dejde On tre ;
whan he b in And whanne that thou Art In giet Nede,

Knat newl to

praj toGhriit, Loke Of helpd & 80cour that thow him bede, 284

And that thow sey In this Maneie
As I the Schal now Rehersen here,
' 0 thow god that deydest vppon the Crois,
Of me, Synnere, here thow my vois ; 288

begging Hfan, by And On the signe Of this thow su£&ede8t ded

theaignofUM °

eroM, to grant Yppon the tre In thin Manhed,
um0 to baUere; 8o graont me Of victorie the grace,

And to thi heleve therto hanen space, 292

~ And that thy man 'that I Moot be
[iMf i9e» eoL f] Er that this world departs from Me/

And 9tf thow this fulliche wilt beleve,

Thanne A trewe man schalt fou me preve ; 296

and tban he ihaU For thanne In bataille schalt thow not dye,

But bothe to geten Worschepe & victoiie.

And now that thus I haue the told.

To gon to bataille thow myht be bold, 300

The crau shau For from deth thi waraunt this schal be,

keep him from

death. And from Alle presonementis, I telle it the.

jit not-withstonding, not forthan
though Thoiomee That Tholomes, this Crwel Man, 304

ahaUimpriaon

him three daja In distresss schsl he putten the

Hf^«^ three nighte*

Thre dayes and thre Niht Sekerle,
For so be me sente the to seye

That Myhtful god & verraye. 308

And wete thow wel, jif thow beleve On this,
Thow Schalt neuere thanne don Amys ;
For to the schal it ben Bedempcioun,
And to the devel sorwe & distmcciouit." 312

ETaiach promieea Thanne seide he to losephes Agein
These wordes tho In Certeio,

CH. XIL] EVALACH PBOXISES to be a CHBISTIAir, IF HB WINS. Ill

" losephes^ tliat thou woldest now preyen for me

To kyng of Cristene In Echo degre, 316

Me to helpe, and Euere me to save ;

And trewlj his Creaunce wil I haye,

jif it be As now thow behotest Me,

Trewe Cristen Man thanne wil I be, 320

Of thyn hond to Eesceyven In this plas

jif Euere I Come A^en Into Sarras."

And thanne An Old Serjannt he gan to CaUd,
And there him Comaonded Amonge^ hem Alle, 324
' The Cristene to kepen vfith ful gret honour,
With-Owten Onj Angwysch Other labour ;
And that losephes haue his Comaundement^
Of All6 Manere thinges wit good Entent. 328

Thanne took the kyng his leve Eyht there

Of losephes & Of his Compenie In fere,

With Ryht A gret Compenye Of knyhtes

And Mochel Other peple tho Anon Eyhtes, 332

And Eyene to the Cite Of Tarabel

They token the Eyht weie Eueridel,

And there Abod he fully yj dayes,

As the Stone Of this book ys sayes. 336

And be the tyme the Size dayes wer^ gon,^

So moche peple Of his Owne hadde he sein non,

What Of So manie knyhtes & barown

Hadde he not Sein At Anof In his town ; 340

But be the tyme that heyghte dayes wer6 gon,'

Mochel peple to him Cam Anon.

Thanne Owt Of Tarabel thei gonne Eide

To-ward yalachin At that same Tyde, 344

Where that Tholomes beseged the Castel

That kyng Eualach tho loyede ful wel,

For him Self there-Oifen Fowndur* he was,

And there it let Setten In that plas. 348

' k quant uint aa tletisme ior. MS Beg.
- ' Aa witisme iour mut li rois de tarabid, maulh soBiia, a
toutes sea 06. MS Beg. leaf 20, ooL 8.

JoMphw to turn

ChriaUaniriM
wlnf.

He ord«l% th«
Chrifltiuit to b«
bald In hoDoar.

Svalfldi marehM

toTUftlMl,

and ttays then
slzdaye

without hi>
buonscomlnff«

bat thqr oome bj
the 8th day, and
tiien all ride
towards Caatle
yalachlm, which
Tholomei is bo-
liaging.

[S yalachin aa
Svalaoh-in. See
p. Ill, note, L 11]

112 evalaoh's castlb valachim described. [ch. zii»

Thii eMtie If FoT it was On of the Strengest pyl

▼tiy •trongf

That Eaere Man Sawgh in Ony Exyl ;

For it Myhte nenere I-wonne be

But Only thorwgh Enfamyne, I telle it the. 352

lu^'l til^ Where-vppon A jate on }at Castel was thoie,

hiffb* From the plein Erthe A stones Cast & More ;

And vndir wheche 3ate Han there

ortr arirw Ryht A wondir dyspetous Ryvere ; 366

And that Rever, As brod it was -^

•n uTow-fliffbt As the schot Of An Arwe In eche A plas,
So that jate Asailled ne Myhte not ben
Of hem with-Owte, As men Myht sen, 360

[If i9e» bk, eoL 1] But It Were Only be An Navye,

Thane Coude that neuere hem stroye

For schot, And Cast Owt of that Castel,

It was devised so wondirly weL 364

And no Mo 3at[es] weren there-vppon

Where that [Ma]n Mihte Owht owt gon,

Onif oiMotiitr But A Htel s:\Bie] In A Comer

That there-vppon was devised ther. 368

And Of plein Erthe to-fom fat gate was,
For two Chariettes to Meten On In fat plas,
The whiche but xxx pas was Of lengthe ;

It WM • pile or For it was A pyl Of ful riht gret strengthe. 372

But Alle the strengthis Of this to discry ve,
It were to long, be my ly ve ; ^

' MS Reg. xiv E 8, saya — *' Et 11 chastiaiifl en haat estoU
ttuirounes de m^mlt richee mun tous quareles de marbre yert
et Ttfrmel & bis & blanc. Et se li mur seoient hien et haat,
enoor estoit la toura plus haut assise a quatre doubles, k si seoit
C* laafto^ bMk] Bour vne roche * tele que onques si hUn seans, ne si desfensaule,
ne Ai veue. Desour chele roche seoit la toara marbrine fsi
tree darement haute, ke on en veoit blanchoier lee mun de
baadas, k ondoier Tiaae del yil, qui e^ en egypte ; f De tel
forohe estoft li chastiaus, k de tel biaute. ne ia si grant chaut
ne feeist en nul eete, ke chil da chaste! n'eussent iaue douche
k froide d'une fontaine, si coaroit 11 ruissiaus en .1. plain nuwlt

t-^ MS Add.--tl Mtoit si baut com en pooit ueoir I'eue del nil. qui d
ertoit bete el rioe« et oelo aigue quo ie tous di, couroit mult puribat en
eSTPte.

OH. XII.] EVALACH*S ARMY GETS SIGHT OF THOLOMES'S.

113

Therfore to passen Over In schort Matere
Of declareng Of this Castel I wile now here : 376

And In this place king Eualach this Castel made
For the strengest plot In y world fat he hadde.
Now whanne kyng Eualach thus Eedy was,
Forth Took he his lome In that plas,
And Entrede Into A ful fair Forest ;
Thus he Comandede -bothe lest & Mest,
And Comanded Alle his Men there Anon riht
Hem Eedy to Annen forto fyht, 381

For he hadde Sent forth A spye
In that Morwening thanne ful Erlye,
To Aspien Tholomes & his Ost

There that they lien wi'tA so gret host. 388

And whanne the Spie Cam Agein,
He tolde kyng Eualach thanne In certein
' That In the Ost It was dynewg tyme,
Fore it was ny noon, And passed y pryme/ 392

Thanne weren tliis Mejme Al Eedy Anon,
And Owt Of that Forest gonne they gon,
And Entrede thanne In-to A gret valey.
Thanne whanne vppon the hil Comen they, 396

They Syen Alle the Ost Of Tholome,
How that they leyen In Al Manere degre ;
And Also Al the Castel Of yalachin
Where that his Meyne weren w/t^-In. 400

Evalach marches
his men into a
380 forest, and bids
them arm.

Finding flrom a
spy that Tho-
lomes's host Is ak
dinner.

Bvalaoh ad-
vanoes, and

oomea in sight of
Tholomes's army
and of Castle
Yalaohim.

biel qui estoit entre les mure del chastiel, k la tour ; si ohaoit
en chel plain par .i. tuel de ooiure qui cheoit en vne cuue de
marbre, en quoi ohil du chaBtiel prendoient iaue a lor besoignes.
Chil plains en quoi Tiaue chaoit par le tuel, si estoit li abuu-
roira as cheuaus du chaste], si estoit tous paues de marbre,
k clos enuiron bi^n le haut de deus coutes k demi, k desour
tout Vautre pauement. Knsi estoit li chastiaus aaisies^ k si
ricbement fermes eom toiu aues oi, tant qu'il ne doutoit nul
home viuant par forche d'assaut. £t pour chou Tauoit ferme
li rois eualach que il n*auoit onqt/ra si forte pieche de t^rre
veue. Et pour cfiou li auoit il mis non eualachin ; ke il voloit
ke tout chil ki iamais le noumeroient, i ramenteussent le non
de lui en ramembranche de che qu*il i auoit fait'*
OBAAL. 8

114 BYALAOH ATTA0K8 THOLOMBS, BUT HAB TO FLBB. [CH. ZIL

But wlumne this Ost Gan hem Aspye,
Thoiomei'i man « Tiesawn ! tresown ! " thei aonne to Crye :
and am. And Axion to Aimes they ronne f ul faste,

For Of here lyyes they weren Agaste ; 404

But fewe of hem there ne ben

That they weren Redy Armed Clen,

For Eyere they hadden A supposenge

That kyng Eualach wolde for Ony thinge 408

That Sege Bemeyen ^if he myhte ;

And that he it wolde don he susposid ful rihte.
■vaiaoh'aknightf Thanne kyng Eualach his men In that tyde

To-waid this Ost Faste gonne they Eide,-^ 412

More yigeryousely neuere Keden Men

Into non place thanne they diden then, —
birt gai thdr And Tholomes men that On foote were,

horaea ilaln by

ThoioiiMa'amaii. Eualach his men here hors Slowen there ; 416

So thanne, bothe parties On foote thei be ;
2*^h'* "^ There grete Manalawghtre Me»i Miht se,

How that Eualache men Tholomes men slowe,

For ther was Sorwe & grynteng of teth Inowe, 420

So that Of bothe partyes ded there been
15,000 man ara Bet than Fiftene thowsend,* As men mlht seen :

And there manye Of his meti lost Eualach :
ETaiadi and hia And whanno this he sawgh, he tomed his bak ; 424

Thanne he & his Meyne that On lyye were,

Toward A Castel fledden tho there,

Wheche Name Of that Castel was,
Of 108. bk, col. «] IClepid was ' Comes ** In Eyeiy plas,— 428

And thedir ful fsiste gonnen they hye.

He & his Meine ful Sekerlye ;

That from theke bataille no more it Nas
two miiea off. But As twey Miles In that plas, 432

Tholoiiiaa par>

•aaathmn, So that Tholomes Chased him so faste

That it wax nyht thanne Atte laste ;

' The Bpfal MS says '.xv. milliers,* bat the Additional
only '.y. H.' * MS Beg. ' laoines.*

OH. ZII.] EVALACH'S TALACHIN men spoil THOLOMBB's TKNT8. 1 15

Whertborwgb Manye Of hise Men

Loste this Tholome In tlie Chas then ;

For tho that fledden knewen fnl wel

The next weye to Comes Castel,

WherthoTwgh Eualach his men goten socofir sone,

And Tholome In that Chas lost Manione ;

So that Tholomes, bencheson Of the Nyht,

From that Chas departid Anon Eyht,

And to his loggeng homward he wente.

And whanne that he Cam fere present.
There Al his hameis beleft fer was,
It was Clene I-^poilled Owt of that plas
Be the while Of Eualach men
That^ In the Castel of valacbin weren then,
That, whiles the bataille & y Chas dyde laste,
Eualach his men the barneys browbt In faste ;
For they that In y Castel were,
Wtt^ Tbolomes men so fowhten fere.
And put hem Alle to discomfiture
That fere the barneys kepte fat Owre.
And whanne this Tbolomes Eesorted A^en,
And Alle bis barneys dispoilled Clen,
His tentis and his pavylons to-broke,
And whanne this Tholome fer-onne gan loke,
Ful mocbel deseisse be took In berte
For theke dispit, It was so smerte ;
And thanne A gret Oth swor he there Anon,
* That he scbolde neuere from fat Castel gon,
Thowgb be scbolde lesen half bis Meyne,
Tyl that they wytb-ynne Enfamyned be.'

And there Abod be Al that Nybt
In sweche loggeng As be geten Mybt

And whanne the spring Of day was Comen,
To him there Cam A spie Anon

436 Bnd loMs many
of hiameu

440 intlMchaM.

444 Moreorer, on
retundng, ht
finds that aU his
harness has hean

carried off by
Svalach's men
fromCastls
^ iQ YalaohinH

452

456

and bb tenia and
pavUiona amasht.

460

Tbolomes vwearr
he'll never leaye
the castle till he's
starred it oat.

464

Kextdawn

468

1 MSThhat.

116 THOLOMES HSABS EVALACH IS IN COMES WITH FEW MEN. [CH. XII.

That him tolde tho newe tydinge,
Al Of kyng Eualache beenge,
a fP7 tdb Tiiolo- " Syxe Tholome," seide this Spie tho,

lUM that

" So good tydinges Cam neuere man vnto 472

As now Sire Tholomes Is Comewge to the,
But jif it thorwgh siwne distroied be."
" Now sey me, Bewfys," quod Tholome,
" What maner Of tydinges mown tho be." 476

" Sire Tholome," Seyde the spie Anon,
Sraiach is Id " Kyng Eiialach Is Into A castel gon^

ComM with bat "^ ® ®

few men. and cma But with A fewe Of his Meyne,

be eaaiJiy taken.

There schalt thow him hauen, Sire, sekerle, 480

And thanne. Ended thi bataille it is ;
That I seye, it is trewe with-owten I^Iis."
" Sey me," quod Tholomes, " thou bolamy,
How knowest thou this so Certeinly 1 " 484

The epy saw « FoT On him Only I hadde A spie

ETalach enter the

oMtie. That sawh him entren y Castel sekerlye ;

For At the jates so longe Abod he there,
Er he myht Entren In Oni Manere, 488

The space Of Ryht A long Mile,
So Abod fcrowte A gret while."
Quod Tholomes " In peine of thi lif lesinge
Loke thou bringe me non fals tydinge ;* 492

n«af 1,001.13 And yf thou do, with-Owten More

[Delay,®] deth schalt thow Suffren therfore."
" [Sir]e, jif it be not so As I haue the told,
[D]e&-membre thow me. Sire, Manifold." 496

Thoiomeereeoiveo Anon Tholomes his kuyhtes gan caUe,
And told hem what A^enture gan be-falle.
And how that Eualach In A Castel was
But with A litel Meine In that plas ; 500

' 11 rois eualach est entre en ' laooine,' MS Reg. MS Add.
Mycone.*

* Bnd of MS on the sheets misplaced.
' The letters are quite invisible.

OH. xil] tholohes starts to take eyalaoh in comes. 117

Wherfore to besegen tliat Castel he wolde bo-gynne

With half his Meyne, nefer more ne Mynne ;

And the tother halvendel schold leven stille

At yalachiiiy for the drede Of More ille, 504

That was him left to kepen there

A litel bettere thanne they diden Ere.

That so this Oidenaunce thus he Made,

Where-Offen his Meyne weren ful glade. 508

Thanne his styward to CIepe» gan he fonde,
That hyghte vabos As I vndirstonde,
And Comaunded him there Anou Eyht,
' As that he was A gentyl knyht, 512

The Eemenaunt Of his Men to kepera stille,
Lest that Ellis to hem Miht Comen som ille ; '
" So schalt thow kepen there with the
Of knyhtes and Seriauwtes half my Mene." 616

Thanne his Steward yabus Anon
His Comaundement was Eedy to don,
And kept there Stille half his Meyne,
As wel Footmen As Othere there to be ; 520

And Tholomes the Rewnaunt with him ladde
Into that place As the Spie him badde ;
And So Rod he forth Al the Nyhte,
For he wolde have ben Aforn day-lyhte 524

At the Castel that hyht Comes,^
There he Supposid kyng Eualach was.

tobosle^Evabich
with half hU
furoe, whilt tiia
other half staja
at Valaohlm,

andar the com-
mandofhla
ateward Vaboa.

So Yabas r«-
maina with half
the anny.

and Tholomea
with the other
half marchea all
night f>)r Cornea.

laooine. MS Reg.

118 OF THX BATTLB BBTWEBN EVALACH AKD THOLOMSS. [CH. XIU.

CHAFIER XIIL

Evalaoh sends out a spy to see after Tholomes, and the
Valaohin man reports success ; Evalach is cheered up, and
marohes (p. 119). He meets the queen's messenger, reads
her letter, and asks explanations (p. 120). The man says
Josephes has told the queen of his defeat ; another man
oomes and tells Bvalaoh that Tholomes has besieged
Gomes (p. 121) ; Evalach goes towards Sarras ; a host
meets him, that of his brother-in-law Seraphe, who oomes
and greets him (p. 122), and says he is oome to help
him; Evalach's answer (p. 123); Seraphe's advice to
Evalach to go to his city Orkauz, Evalach goes to Orkauz,
and sununons more knights (p. 124) ; he wants to go
and fight lliolomea, but is counselled to wait (p. 125) ; he
is besieged by Tholomes, and orders a sortie (p. 126) ; he
gives the city in charge to an old knight^ and attacks
Tholomes successfully, for Tholomes*s men had ridden all
night (p. 126). Of Seraphe*s deeds, and the pursuit of
Tholomes*s men to a narrow passage by a Rock of stone
(p. 127), from the slaughter called The Bloody Bock;
Tholomes comes to the rescue (p. 129), asks his men what
is the matter, and encourages them (p. 130). Evalach
halts his men, and puts them in four divisions : 1. Seraphe,
2. the Steward, 3. Archemedet (p. 130), 4. Bvalach. He
charges Jeooniat to g^iard the passage, and to keep the
city too (p. 131). Tholomes ordains eight divisions, two
against each one of Evalach's (p. 132). The fight begins.
Kumber of men on each side (p. 182-3). Evalach's speech
to his knights (p. 133-4). Seraphe's division fights ;
Evalach's feelings, — his prayer, and the result of it
(p. 185). The dire slaughter (p. 136). Seraphe's deeds ;
his axe; and his appearance (p. 187). Tholomes calls
up his second division (p. 188) ; Seraphe's men flee, but
he fights on (p. 139) ; Evalaoh*s Steward goes to his help,
and resolves to slay King Tholomes (p. 140). Evalach's
steward breaks Tholomes's line,' and throws Tholomes to
the ground (p. 141). The Steward is struck down by a
knight ; Evalach's nephew and Evalach go to the rescue
(p. 142). Archemedes drives in Tholomes's men (p. 148) ;
but Evalach's Steward is cruelly beaten (p. 143) ; and
killed by Tholomes (p. 144) ; Tholomes and Evalach
fight ; but Evalach cannot recover his Steward's body
(p. 144). Tholomes rallies his men, who shoot poisoned
arrows, and get the best of the fight (p. 145).

Now leven we Alle Of Tholomes,
And that At this tyme Of him we ses ;
Evdiich lends And Of kyng Eualach let vs now speke,
ott ft Bpy That On his Enemyes wold him Awreke, 4

CH. XIII.] EVALAOH HARCHBB AOAIVflT THOLOMBS.

119

And that Into the Castel Of Come was gon

H jm foito socoure from his Fon ;

So that An Old Seriannt he Callid Anon,

And had that he Anon Scholde gon 8

Owt Of that Castel Riden, forto Aspie

Where ^ that Tholomes were there Nye,

Other to valachin A^en that he was gon

With his Meyne thedir Euerichon. 12

Thanne this Seriaunt tho forth gan Kyde,
And sewed Tholomes In that tjde
Eyene to yalachin Castel tho,

There As newe tjdinges herde he Ho, 16

' That the Meynie Of valachyn Castel
Hadde horn hem f ul wondirly wel,
That In the tyme Of the chaa

AUe Tholomes hameis Itrised was.' 20

And Anon To Enalach he Betomed Agein,
And of these tydinges tolde him ful plein,
And Of the pray his Men hadden take ;
Where-of Eualach gret loye gan Make,
And swoor thanne he his Creannce,
'That, what so hehapped him in Oni Chaunce,
With him hond he hond wolde he fyhte,
And vppon him to prey en his Myhte ; 28

That, ryht Anon As his men semhled were,
From that Sege he scholde him Here,
That 80 hastely nenere kyng I-Rered was
From non sege I non maner plas.' 32

Owt Of that Castel thanne gan he gon
From thens thre Miles Eyht Anon,
And with him sevene hundred knyhtes & seriauTis
That Alle worthy men weren & vaylauQS ; 36

And On foote Nyne hundred ther were*
Of Ryht bolde men & hardy there ;

• Whether.
' et bien .x. et ix. oheDS dd gent a piet. US Iteg.

In find out wImm
Tboluin«a to.

The »P7 rtdn to
TttlachiR^

and heart hovr
th« iiMn there
he?e ouTied off

Clean, eoLt]

Tholomee'i arms.
He reporte thie to
Evalaeli,

24 wholigreaUj
ndolced,

that

he Ml make
Tholomee ralee
tlie »lege in no
time.

and atonoe
marches out With
700 hone

and 900 (hot.

120

EVALACH GETS WORD FUOM niS QUEEN, THAT [CH. XIII.

Be is met by a
xneaeenfrer fhxn
hUwilb,

with letten

begging him

to leave Comee,

u Tholomee it
about to beaiege
it.

Evalach can't
Qiidentand how
liu wife knew he
waa in Cornea.

*TheoldC)iristlan
Maater told her.
Sire,

So that from the Castel werew they gon

Fyve Miles ^ er that day Cam hem vppon. 40

And In the Mene while that tbei thus gowne gon,
On A palfrey Cam prekynge A messengere Anon
Al* so Swiftly As the hors myht him here ;
Kyng Eualach he sowhte Everi- where ; 44

And thanne with the kyng mette he Anon,
Thanne thus his Arende he gan to don :
" Sire," he seide, " my lady the qweene gr[e]teth y wel,
And thus the' sente to seyne Echo del 48

As this lettre doth Spesephie,
Where-with sche bad me faste to hye."
Anon king Eualach this lettres took,
And hem Eadde, & not forsook, 52

And there In his lettre tho he radde
' That his Qweene On him faste gradde.
And, As Euere sche his Soiet myhte be,
Owt Of the Castel Of Come \>at he wolde Te, 66

For Tholomes that Crwel kyng
There-Abowtes wil leyn his Seieng.'
And whanne this lettre thus he hadde rad,
To him forto Come the Messenger he bad, 60

& of these tydinges Abassched was he,
How that this knowlechinge to hire myhte be ;
And to that Messenger he seide Anon
" How wyste sche that I Into Come was gon 1 " 64
" Sire," quod the Messenger witterly,
** I ne Can not 30W tellen Certeinly ;
But An bid Man In Sarras is there
That Of Certein thinges doth here lere, 68

That Maister Of Cristene Called Is he ;
A wondirful Man he semeth to be ;
And whanne sche hath with him spoke,
Sche wepeth As thow hire herte were broke ; 72

* bien .v. lieues. MS Reg.

* MS As. See 'Also faste/ 1. 76, p. 121. But see 1. 385,

p. 129 ; 1. 642, p. 134. • they (? ache).

CH. XIII.] JOSEPHES HAS FORESEEN THOLOHES'S SIEGE OF GOMES. 121

And thanne Cleped sche me forth Anon,

That this Message were sone don,

And that A palfrey I scholde be-stride

Also faste As I Myhte preken Other Ryde." 76

Thanne- kyng Eualach clepid his knyhtes Anoue,
And there told hem Of this MeTreil son^,
' That losephes Cowde tellen of his discomfiture
The wheche be-fil In that same Oure ; 80

And that he his qweene these tydynges schold telle,
How that thike day it him befelle ;
And how Into the Castel Of Come he was fledde,

and then she nent
me off to yoa.'

Evalach t«lli hU
knights how
Joieplies knew all
that had hap-
pened.

And tholomes Me to besegen In that stcde.'

And thus As they gonnen forto talke,
Aftyr theke Bowte Cam A seriaunt walke,
Faste preking vppon A destrero
Also hastely As he myhte Hyden there,
Prekynge with A bowe In his hond, —
And thus he seide. As I vndirstond, —
" And [they] be me Sente to 30W gretynge
That in 30ure Castel of Come ben dwellenge,

* That je scholden Goveme 30W wel & wysly.
And Owt Of Tholomes weye to kepen 30W plainly ;
For he is now At Comes Castel,

& hath beseged it now Every del.
For he hopeth 30W with-Inne to take.
And there 30W to don bothe tene & wrake ;
And there with him Is half his Meyne ;
Al the Bemnaunt, At yalachin they be.' "

And whanne king Eualach herd this word,
Thus thanne dide he be his Owne Acord ;
There Cleped he bothe knyhtes & bachelere.
And told hem Of that Merveil there ;

* For there nas non thing Seid ne don
That theke losephes ne wiste it Anon,
For ther nas neucre touge So Certein
That Of his dedis Cowde tellen it ploin ; '

84 [iMf 1» bk, col. 1]

A horeeman IWnn
Comet rides ap

88

and telle Evalach

92

96

100

104

to keep out of the
way or Tholomes,
who has Just
besieged Comes.

Evalach tells bis
knlgbta

how Joeephet
knows ererytbing
that's said or
done, '

108

122

BBRAPHE XBBTS KVALACH, WITH BEINFOBCBMBNTS. [CH. Xin.

and had foretold
all that's hap-
panad to tbrau

Xvalaeh tarna off
to Sanaa,

and fklli in with
a body of 4000

nndar the com*
mandof hia

brethar-ln-law
(Saraphe),

who, by h!i
()oeau'a eiitraatj.

"And Alle thing As he to me gan telle.

What Ayentuie Me be-Felle ;

And now mown ^e knowe the sothe here,

That Tholomes Come besegeth there, 112

lik As my Qwene dide me to yndiietonde

Be A lettie I-wieten Of hire honde."

Thanne kyng Eualach tomed his way
Streyht to Sarras that like same day. 1 IG

And whanne he wtt^ his Bowte hadde Riden two Mile,
His Meyne gan to beholden with-Inne A while,
They Sawen Comen Isswe Owt Of A forest
A fsdr Meyne, And Armed wtt^ the best, 1 20

What On hors And Of Footmen
Fowr6 thousend weren I-Eekened then.
And whanne this peple that gan Aspie,
To here lord they it tolde In hye ; 1 24

And whanne he that Meyne loked yppon.
His Meyne he Comaonded to Armes Anon ;
And As king Eualach In Orden^unce was there^
Owt of y oper Ost Cam On A destrer, 128

Also faste As the hors Myht Gon
Toward kyng Enalach he prskede Anon,
And vp his helm there he Caste,
And toward him Eualach prekid wel faste ; 132

And whanne that Eualach this knyht beheld
Bothe vndir his helm & yndir his scheld,
Thanne was it his Owne wyves brothir
That of Men he lovede passing Al Othir, — 136

** Sire Eualach, it was Certefied to me
That Al discomfyt scholdest thou be,
And that Tholomes, Of Babiloyne kyng,
Abowtes Come hath thera leid Asegeng ; 140

Thus me sente to seine my soster y qweene
That ful mochel sorwe hath, As I wene.
And preide me, for Alle loves that euet'e were
Be-twene soster And brothir dere, 144

OH. XIU.] EVALACH THANKS BERAPHA FOE Hlfi TIMELT HELP. 123

30W to Avengen yppon ^oure foon

Be Alle the power that I xnyht don.

And this Is now my Comenge,

I sey yxw, Sire, with^Owten lesynge,

That So As hastely As I Myhte Eide

To 30W Am I Comen At this Tide ;

But it is better thanne I wende it hadde be,

For I wende In Come to han sein the."

Thanne kyng Eualach him thanked sone
Of the grete kendenesse that he hadde done ;
But 3lt he him preide ful heitly,
' That he wolde Abyden him by
Forto Avenge/} him Of his foon.
And til that his lome were doon ; '
*' For there may no man fully knowe
What Frendes he hath In Ony Bowe,
Bat "Euere At Nede A man May se v
What men that welen his Frendes be ;
But he that doth In this gret nede
Me forto helpen hym so to spede,
Me thinketh Among^ AI erthly thing
It is A tiewe brothens doyng ;
For je knowen wel that I haue be
I-Chaced from places two Oper thre,
Where-Offen I preie 30W, In my gret nede,
Me to helpen wtt^ wit & dede,
And helpe to defenden ^oure sostres lond
That I haue longe kept In Myn hond,
And Of My schame Avenged to be,
Now goode brother I preye to the ;
And dowble Amendis I schal 30W Make,
Aityr that the Angwisch that 30 for my sake
Scholen soffren with-inne these vig dayes,
I schal it 30W ^elden be Mani wayes ;
And ^if Euere I Mowe rekeuare to sarras,
I schal 30W hyglily qwyten Er that ^e pas,

hM oome to balp
SvaUkdi.

D«af 1, bk, ooL SJ

US

152

Evalach thanks
Sermpbe, Nad
prajiliini

15G

160

to be a (Head la
nwd.

1G4

168

■ad help him
with wit and
deed.

172

176

for which hia
reward

180 ihallbehigh.

124 EVALACH 00B8 TO ORKAUZ, AND SUMMONS MORE MEN. [CH. XIU.

And that In ^owre liowshold it schal be sene,
And Amongg^ AUe joure baronage be-dene."
8«r»ph« ftdvbM " ae, I schal 20 w tellen wljat ae Bcholen do,

KvaUeh to go to

orkauB, To ^owre Cite Of Arkauz scholen we go, 184

And there we scholen Abiden A stownde
Tyl Mo Of 30ure peple to 30 w Com en sownde ;

hitftrongMtdty, For it is the beste Cite Of ^oure lond,

And best vitailled, As I vndirstond ; 1S8

and abide then And there ionve Meine Abyden 6chole?i ;e

till all hie men ^ ^ -^

join him. Til that to )ow AUe Comen they be,

And Also there scholen we sonnere knowe

AUe the tydinges vppon A rowe 192

Thanne And we werew At Sarras Cite :

Sire, this is best, As thinketh to Me.''

80 ih«j au ride to Kyng Eualach held wel with this ConseUle,

Orkaoi.

And to Orkauz they Heden with-Owte« faiUe, 196
And AUe here Meine "with hem wente
Into that Cyte there presente ;
But It was fer passed the Noon

Er they weren Entred Everichoon. 200

Bvaiach then Thanne kyng Eualach Abowtes gan sende

■ends for his

barou, AftyT his barowns Into Eu^'ry Ende,

* That ho that howghte him Ony worldly honour
Scholde Comen to helpen him In that stour.' 204

And the Messengeres diden wel here Arende Jjat tyme ;
and next morning For On the Morwe, Er it was pryme,
eome to him. To Orkauz Comen Of the kynges Hetenw

Ful xvij thowsend, As I teUe it 30W, 208

What On hors-bak and On foote,
So manie fer were wel I woote,
Wit^-Owten tho that king Eualach hadde,
And witA-owten f* that Seraphe with him ladde. 212
Heart, ooi.i] And whanne that kyng Eualach this Meine hadde,

Evalach wants to

march againtt Tha/mo was he bothe loyful And Gladde,

Tholomee at onoe^

And thanne to Come he Covey ted Forto gon,

There forto han Mot with Tholome Anon 216

OH. XIII.] EVALACH ORDERS A SALLY AGAINST THOLOMES.

125

Thanne to him Answerid his knyhtes sone,

" It were non wisdoom jit thedir forto gone,

For to Meten with kyng Tholome,

Sire, tyl that thow haue here more Mejme j 220

But let V8 here Ahyde tlire dayes Or fowxe,

And be that tyme Getest thow More socowre ;

And thus tyl thow thi power have,

"With him l^Iihtest Jjou not fyhten, And be save." 224

And so be the Conseil Of his barouTis Certein

Anon to that Cite he tomede Agein.

And be the tyme that it was lyht Of day,
" Treson ! treson ! " thei gonnen Crien in fay. 228

Thanne wente the kyng In-to the towr An hy,
And there sawgh he Tholomes host pleinly ;
And Anon, " As Armez " they gonnen to Crie,
That Every man to barneys wente hastelye.
And whanne he say that y Cite beseged was
Ou^ral Abowtes In Euerich A plas,
Mochel was the Mone that therg he Made,
And Also gret Anger & thowht he hade 236

For his, Men that to him scholden gon.
Lest they were taken there Euenchon
Presoneres witJt hem that werew witA-Owte ;
And here-Offen Eualach hadde gret dowte. 240

Thanne kyng Eualach Comanded Anon
His Men to Armure thanne Euerichon,
* And that Owt Of that Cite they scholden go
Also vigorowsly As Evere Men Myhten do, 244

That Neuere so vigorous issw Myhte be
Nevere Owt Of Castel ne Of Cite.'

Thanne Clepid he forth An Old knyht there
That to him was bothe ful leef & dere, 248

And 3af him charge with that Cite
' It wisly to kepen In Alle degre.
That aftyr whanne he were Owt gon,
And with him his Meine Everichon, 252

but it pemuded
to wAit till more
help arrivee.

By daylight

Tholomee'e hoet
isieea.

232 BTslacb's men
arm.

and he ordera
them to aally oat
on the fbe.

He pats an old
knight in chai^
of the city.

126

evalach's horse rout tholomes's ken. [ch. ziil

led hy 8tmphM
Bodhim,

nnhooTholo-
tam'Bxan

■nd rout thm.

(tbonghthflj
made tore of
Tioiorj)

Cl(«rs,col.S]

u they had riddM
all night, and
taken no rMl.

That no Man In tliedir scholde Entren Ageiu —

Were it Erf, knyht, baroun. Other sweyn, —

For non kende ne for non Entent,

Bat jif it be thorwgh myn Comandement.' 256

And thus thanne Owt gonne they pase
Owt Of that Cyte A ful wilde Base,—
For so wilde Hasyng was neuere lyown "^
As they thanne Laswed Owt of that town, — 260

So that to-Fore Owt Of that town wente
Seraphe and the kyng presente,
The wheche the feiste bataille hadde,
And On Tholomes Men fid lowde thei gradde, 264
And Tppon hem they gonnen so feiste to Hide
For with hem was non Abide Abyde ; [sic]
But with spens foste to-gederis they schoke,
That scheldes & hawberkis Al to-broke, 268

That they fillen down In the feld,
So wel they Gronne there hem beweld ;
And Also here highe hors that here sadeles bere,
Down On the grownde weren throwe ^ere ; 272

So that thanne king Tholomes Men
The wers hadden, £r they wenten then.
For whanne they Comen Owt of pat Cite
Swich A gret And lusty Meyne, — 276

For they not wist that be the Fourthe del
Hadde not thera ben, they supposed wel, —
Where-Ofle Abascht wondir sore they were
Of that Bowte that isswede there, 280

And the surere they wende han be ful sekerly,
For twies discomfited him hadden they.
But there. At the Ferste Assemble,
Mochel peple lost this kyng Tholome : 284

Ful al the Nyht to-Fore I-Beden they hadde,
And Kon Bestii non Of hem ^adde,
Where[with] alle distempred they were,
And that was Sene vppon hem there. 288

OH. ZIU.] EVALAOH AND SEHAFHB PUBBUB THOLDMIES'S MBN.

127

And Eualach Men AUe Heste took,

For Alle l^yht they slepten, & not ne wook ;

Wlierfoie On hem It was tho Sene,

For they weren bothe^fers and kene. 292

Mani Merveilles wrowhten Eualacha Men ;
Bat Ab for On Man, he dyde sweche ten ;
For was there neaere Man Of his Old Age
That half 80 M was tho Of Corage. 296

And Also was Sire Seraphe,
That A worth! werrour hath Euere be ;
For he there bar him so wel that day,
That so Moche worschepe he bar Away, 300

That Of his lyve, In Alle his dayes,
So Mochel worschepe men Of him sayes j
And Also Af tir whanne he was ded,
Of him Men bothe spoken & Bed. 304

Bat Mochel deseisse sof&ede Tholomes Men,—
And 3it^ Ajens Eualachd On Man hadden thei ten, —
So that they Tomede here bak Anon,
And horn hem ward faste gonno to gon ; 308

Thanne Sewede faste Eaelach the kyng.
And so dyde Seraphe In that Chasing ;
And there they Sewed hem thanne so faste
Into A fal streit passage Atte laste,
Whiche was An hy Eoche Of ston,
The moste perilows pat man Mihte bi gon : —
For the Boche In him self was so hy.
More than fowre bowschote trewely.
And Into the Byht side it laste Evene lyht
Pown to the water Of Orkauz, I the plyht ;
And the lefke partie it Ban Evena west.
Into Babyloigne that Biaere wente ful prest. 320

And [by] Alle that Boche passage was non
Bat On, that ful streit was there-vppon,
Whiche was non laigere In non wise
Thanne As ten Men, As I Cowde deyise, 324

BvBlaahaiid

Senphc flgbt
woiul«rftUl7 walL

Though Tbolo-
niM'i men an
10 to 1 against
ErmUch's, thfy
flee.

BTaUchand
Seraphe punot
them

312 toanarnnr

by a rock
316 4-boirahoti'Ught

through whkdi
only 10 men oonM

128 THOLOMSS'S HBN ARE CHASED PAST THE ROCK OF BLOOD. [cH. XIII.

There Afront myht passen therby,

So streyt was that passage trewly ; —

And Into that passage the lue^ Of Eualach

Sewed tholomes Men that Torned the bak ; 328

Heratonrach And there was sched so mochel blood

That On bothe Sydes it Ran Into the flood,
And so Mochel blood vppon that Roche lay

that the rock la That ^it the Colour is sene Into this day, 332

atainad red, and ta

atuicaiwTha And for slawhtre Of peple Jjere so manifold
fiodt of Blood/ , ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^^ , j^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^j^ ^

For At that Entre they fowhtcn so sore
That men weren there slain Mani A score ; 336

And As they mihte, they biden that stour
Til that hem Cam Ony more socour,
So that the grettere partie weren forth paste
Thorw gret distresse Atte laste ; 340

So that Mochel peple was there slayn
Of bothe parties there In Certain.
And for that bataille fere so sore was Of distres,
" The blody Rocho " Evere is cleped wit/i-outen les. 344
TwomUaabQjond And be^onde tliis Chas Chased thei were

thii rock do

Kvaiach'a men Bo-^onde that passage two miles there ;

Onhorsed weren Manie Of tholomes Men tho,

And faste On Foote there gonne they to go, 348

And Eualache Men hem Sewede ful faste

On horsbak whiles that Chas wolde laste.

Thanne here Eyen vp£ they Caste,

fiat then tbey Ss sien there Tholome Comen Atte laste, 352

meet Tholomea ^^

Deaf t, bk. ooi. 1] That Comeng was tho to the segeward.

hia force. Now he begynneth bataille strong & hard ;

b^im «new. * For he sente his Men there forth to-fom,

Weneng to him non of hem to han lorn, — 356

For he wende that Of Men so gret plente
W/tft-Inne the Cite Of Orkauz hadden not be.
And whanne Tholome his mes-men he sawh so fle,
And Also Men vn-Armed with him hadde he, 360

OH. ZIII.] THOLOUES RALLIES AND COMFORTS HIS MEN.

129

Anon Comanded he In hje,

' The Annure Of the hurt men hastelye

Of hem to taken, and hem fer-yntli dyhte,

That they myhten hen Redy forto fyhte/ 364

Thanne this Tholomes ferst gan owt Ryde

Afore Al the pres At that Tyde,

And Axede his men that fled tho were,

* What Manere Of thing that thei sien there ; ' 368

And they him Answerid tho sone Anon,

And tolde him Al how it gan gon,

' That In Orkauz they fownden Eualach king,

And there with him A gret gadering,' 372

" That So Manie werrours we wenden not han he

In Al his lond, Sire kyng, Certeinle ;

And there. At A ryht streit passage,

On thi men dide he mochel Damage,

For so Manie men ther hen ded

That no man kan nomhre In pat sted."

" What, how goth this ? " thanne quod Tholome,

*' Is Eualach isswed owt Of that Cite 1 " 380

" 3e sire," quod they, " — ^he Owre lewte,

And that Ryht sone scholen ^e se, —

Prekyng vppon his destrer.

And with him Al his power ; 384

As^ so faste As he may hye.

Here he foleweth vs faste hye."

And whanne Tholome herde Al this,

Fol sore Ahaisched he was I-wys, 388

And his Meyne Comanded to stondyn stiUe,

For to herkenen what was tho his wille, —

He preyde hem holy Alle in this degre

'That iN'eufre non Of hem ne scholden fie, 392

What Aventure that henge Onei' here hed,

Tyl that to-Fom hem they sien him ded.'

" Sire," quod they, " thanne were late to fle,

And thow to-fom vs slayn there he." 396

H« rides oat.

and uks what
happened.

They toU him
thatEraUch
altackt them.

376 "^^ *^^^ many of
them.

and that he 11
•ooQ ace Evaladk

[1 P Al : tee p. 120,
note 8]
punaing the rest.

Tholome* rallies
his men,

prwys tiiem not
to flee

tin they
dead.

him

QBAAL.

9

130 XVALAOH'S order of battle, IX 4 BATTALIONS. |CH. XUI.

" LordyDges," quod Tholome, " I schal this day
He win help jow helpen & SocoTire what that I May;

JN'oi-withstonding myn hy parage,

And Jerto two & thr3rtty winter of age, 400

3it stormes and batailles haue I seen

As Manye As soniT/ie that here now been ;
ittthMnbeof And therfore, As that je loveji ^oure bodily honour,

So' beth Of goodc herte now In this stoure." 404

XTaiach, And whanne Eualach this gan to beholde.

He him. bethowhte In Manifolde
Mting that Tho- What was the Cawse Of the Restreyneng

lomes'i men hold

bMk, Of the Meyne of Tholomes the kyng. 408

Thanne thowhte he As A wis werroiir
That Abyden hadde Mani An hard stour,

* That Sum gret Strengthe Of peple pei'e was

Ajens him Comeng Into that plas.' 412

teiuhiibftrons That king Eualach his barons dide Calle,

that Tholooin is

near. And hem tolde what Aventures myht befalle,

* And how that kyng Tholomes was there ny,

With Ryht a strong Meyne fgre faste by.* 416

and thej march So thanne hol to gedens thanne wente they tho,

up to him*

Tyl that they ny Tholomes Ost were Come/i to :

Into tweyne bowe-drawhtes lengthe,
Clear 2, bk, col. 2] So Fer Assembled Eualach & Al his strengthe. 420
Kraiarh dividee And thanne there Eualach devised Anon

4 battauons, His Meyne Into fowrg batailles to be don,
" *' Of the wheche the ferste bataille be-took he

1. seraphe, To that ful Worthy werrour Sire Seraphe, 424

That So worthily hadde him ferst bom,

Lyk As I haue jow rehersed here-beforn.
I. under tht And his Steward, that An hardy man was,

The seconde bataille hadde In that plas ; 428

And to Anothir Old worthi werrour

y thridde bataille he betook In that strowr,
s. ArehTmedee, Hos Name was Cleped Archymedes,

^ As I }ow here telle wtt^-Owten les ; 432

on. ZIII.] THOLOKES'S ORDEE OF BATTLE, IN 8 BATTALIONS. 131

And him Self the Fourthe bataille hadde,
That In theke tyine so wel koundeed & ladde.

And whaiine thus his batailles diuysed weren AUe,

An Old knyht to him thanne gan he Calle,
That was bothe ful trewe & hardy,
That leconyas was Cleped trewly ;
And to him thanne for riht gret trost
The passage he be-tok, As nedis he most.
In keping it to deliae7*e to On Man,
So moche Of werre wel Cowde he than.
That non Of Tholomes men pere paste,
I9e non Other, for non haste.
And Also there Charged him he
That he scholde taken kepe to that Cite,
" For there-Inne I lefte but fewe Meyne
It foito kepen, As I telle the, —
l^ot passeng Of Men Six score
Be y grete hundred, lasse ne more, —
And An Old knyht here wardein to be.
Sire lekonyas, As I telle it the ;
And therfore that non passe be thin bond,
That Cyte to don Schame Oj>er schond."
That lekonyas tho forth him wente.
His lordis Comaundement to don presente.
And whanne Tholome Al this beheld.
That Eualach Enbatailled him In the feeld,
Thanne Anon he Ordeyned viij batailles
Of his Meyne with-Owten Failles,
Of the wheche tweyn y ferst Ordeyned were
Vppon the steward to Assemblen there ;
And the Secund bataille devised he
Vppon Eualachs Nevev forto be, —
The wheche hyht Archemedes
A worthy Man In stour & pres.
For the thridde bataille hadde he In honde
Of Eualach, As I yndirstonde ; —

436

440

4. Evalafdi him-
Mlf.

Evalach then putt
ftn old knlghti
JecouUw,

In charge of the
pasMKe by the
Bock of Blood, to

444

■top Tholomes'i
men from ettadc-
ingOrcAUi.

448

452

456

Tholomei fbniui
hla men into
8 battaliona.

460

464

8 to attack Et»-
lacfa'c steward.

2 to attack
Archymedee,

468

133 THOLOMFS'S BATTLB-ARRAY, AND NUMBER OF KEN. [CH. XIII.

1 (aadM-hiiBMif) And I my self In the yijthe^ bataille wil be

Yppon Eualacn that Is so fre ;
1 to attaek And the Reiewaid schal be the viiithe bataille,

Yppon Seraphe with-0wte7i Faille, 472

That worthy Conqwerour Evere he was,

Therfoie he dred him In that plas.
ttofbnna And ^it kepte Tholome to his Availles,

In his Refiescheng, twey batailles, 476

That vppon Eualach Scholden Come

Aftyr that the giet storm were done.
TiM ■nniM And so to-gedore Faste they Bonne,

And this storm tho they be-gonne, 480

twoof ThoioniM*! Yppon Ech of Euolache^ bataylles two,
XraiMb'i; And thus to-gedere they gonnen go.

Thanne sawgh Tholomes In that plase

That more Meyne Of his ther was 484

That In that feld gan there gon,
10 mm (that ii» s Ten Men of his A^ens Eualache On.

A oii>t«nth) of

Ptt>f s. eoi. 1] Thus bothe batailles devised weren there

Tholomcs'i to

BmUMdi'f 1, In Manor As I 30 w haue Eeherced Ere, 488

Bothe On the ton Syde An vppon the tothir,
So that vnder hem bothe was there fair fothir ;

ZTtiadi baring 'So that Eualach hadde in eche bataille, I wene,

10,100 in Moh of

hit 4 tattaiioot Ten thowsend and thre hundred men bedene, 492

What On hors and Ek On Foote,
So Manye he hadde I wel woote ;

1 The 6th, this should be ; and < viy the ' in 1. 471 should
be 6th. See lines i76, 481, oq Looelioh's wrong arrangement of
keeping two battalions for the Reserve. The French text does
it better. " Et si dist ke les .ij. premieres assambleroient a la
battaille ke li serourges eualach conduisoit, et les autres deus
assambleroient a la bataille le senescal. Et les .ij. comanda,
ke eles assaimblaissent au neueu eualach qui auoit la tierche
bataille. Et 11 dist, que il seroit en la sietisme bataille, et si
assambleroit a eualach ; et le witisme bataille feroit V«riere
garde, si uenxolt sour eus quant il aroient grant pieche souffiert
reetour/*

' — * Si eut bien en chascune des batailles eualach .ij. mil
et ly. ohens, que a pie, que a oheual. Et a ohascune des
tholomes eo eut bien .v. mile, ou plus.

(=41,100),

CH. XIII.] EVALACH*S SPEECH TO HIS MEN BEFORE THE FIGHT. 133

And In Eche Of Tholomes batailles were

Sixtene thowsend, As it Heherseth here ; ' 496

And 3it Manie Of his Men weren lost to-Fore

At theke streite passage, As I tolde 30W Ore.

Now Eualach his knyhtes Calleth,
Of what manere Aventure that him befallith ; 500
He Clepeth forth lord, dwk, Erl, and bachelere,
And Al his peple that was there :
" Lo, sires ! " he seide, " worthi men ^e be,
And Mochel han knowen Of Chyvalre ; 504

ponder Tholome hath Ten A^ens Oure On,
And [^it] hopen we Ryht wel to don,
& therfore Of good Comfort let vs now be ;
And thenketh what wrong he doth 30W & me ; 508
Into My lond to Entren with-Owten leve.
Me thinketh he doth me gret Eeprave ;
Therfore, And ^e ben goode men this day,
Fill wel his Mede Qwyten me^ May, 512

And the yictorie Of the bataille this day to have,
And therto More worschepe thanne we co»ne krave ;
& ^erto the Egipcien neuere schal 30W Abyde

andTholoiBM
16,000 In Mcfa of
hit 8 (a U8,000)«

ETslidi racoon
agM hlf knlgbtos

'Tho' TholofDM

hMtenagaiiut

oaroDe^y«t

MhehuwroRg«d

be good nen, and
wetballbeatblm.

In bataylle, nefer In feld, At non Tyde.
And this I preie 30W Enterly,
That je wolden strong & Myhtly
Tweyne the ferste schowres Ofer thre ; '
And be that tyme here haste schal past be.
And thanne fresch scholen je be to fyht
Whanne they han lost Al here Myht,
And thus discomfite hem Schole we
In this Manere, As ^e mown Se.
Now behold what worschepe it were
Hem to discomfite In this Manere I

516

ThoBgyptfaas

ean'tatend

agminatyoiu

520

Bear thair lint
Sattaeka; thaa
tbay'Uttra.

524

and waahall
diaoomflt ttiaai*

' le Tons pri et requier que youb souffres moult au oom*
inencbement ; et si tous les pees souffrir .y. eaus ou troii^
bien Bacbies vraiement ke la si tost ne lor courras sus, com
vous les yerres d*autre maniere ke 11 n'aront este aa 00m-
menchier. — ^A.

134 6XRAPHB ATTACKS 8 .OF THOLOHES'S BATTALIONS. [OH. XIII.

Pear not' death or
imprleoniiMmt 1 *

Two of Tholch
uee'ebaltolioiia
draw near.

Sarapheand

his

attack them.

King ET»1aofa
feaiv for his

Deaf8,eol.t]

brother-in-Uw's
safety.

And beholdeth now, As ^e Mown se.

What Mejne that he hath more thanne we. 628

I not what I schal sein More trewelye ;

je knowen bothe worschepe & yelonye ;

And therfore I Conceille 30W Echon,

That for drede Of deth nothing ^e don, 532

Kethir for presonement In no weye,

That jow Myht Tome to velonye,

Ne that Aftir be vs Oure Children reproved be,

Whanne Owt Of this world passed ben we." 536

And whanne that he thus hadde told his tale,
He Sawgh twey batailles comen In A Tale,
That weren Redy to the Assemblyng.
Anon Seraphe was ware Of ^at thing, 540

And Ajens hem faste gan he to Eyde
As^ so faste As the hors Myht gon pat tyde ;
And Owt he sprang As fyr Offe brond, '
With a boystous Tool In his hond, 544

Tyl that AprocheJ they werew so Ker
As the Mowntaunce Of A bowedrawht per,
To-gederis Faste tho they Ronne,
And there they newe game bc-gonne ; 64S

Eche, Other down there threw wel faste,
An Many On bothe sides to therthe were casto.
And Eualach kyng be-held Al this,
That In the Rere-warde was I-wis, 552

And hadde ful gret Rowthe & pyte
That for him his brother distroied schold be,
Other be slayn, Other taken presoner ;
Ful moche Sorwe In herte hadde he ther, 556

And with his herte he sighed wel sore,
And with his Eyen wepte he thore ;
Thanne his helm vp lie Caste tho,
^ bothe scheld & spere gan from him do, 560

And down he Enclynede Of his destrere,
& In this Maner seide As 30 mown here :

1 ? Al. See note 2, p. 120 ; and 1. 385, p. 129.

en. XUl] ETALICH FRAYS FOR BERAPHE, AND STRENGTHENS HIM. 135

" Alas, that I so Cursed A kaytyf,
That for me my broker scholde lesen his lyf !
Alas, how schold it I qwyten to the,
Thowh my lyf thy gwerdon scholde be I
For this kendenesse that pou. dost for Me,
I ne hadde neuere good to qwiten it to the ;
Therfore it is seid ful trewelye
That In trewe herte was li&aere trecherye.
N'ow mote the kepen, Seraphe, Every- where,
That Lord that I the Signe here Of here !
And ^if he be verray god, As they tellen me,
Into his Govemaunce holich I betake the,
Thy body from peryl & schame to kepen
In Alle places where-so je ben.
And J>at to y heyest worschepe 30W bringe.
That Evere hadde Man On Erthe levynge."

Now beholde here and se
How fill Of Mercy & Of pyte
That is the blisful king of hevene.
How sone he herde the Synful stcvene !
Lo ! for that so hertely he made his preiere.
How sone that the goode lord gan him here,
And grauntid him Al his hoi Entent ;
The wheche was J>«re Anon sene veremewt ;
For Aftir tyme that Eualach hadde thus preid, —
As that to-Fore ^e han herd me Seid, —
Aitirward, dureng that bataille,
Alle Maner Of men that him gonne Asaillc,
To grownde wenten thei Everichon,
And his Enemyes Of him hadde power non,
Ne non dedly wownde J>at day Cam him to.
For Owht J>at his Enemyes Cowden do ;
For that day gat he So mochel worldly honoar,
That Alle pat him beheld In that stour
Sien neu^re swich Anothir worldly man
To smyten the strokes that he smot than.

■n4 eanea him-
seir for eudanger-
564 Ing Sanipbtl lUii.

568

572

576

He oomraita
Serapho to the
Godofthe
Chriatiane,

to keep hia body
from peril.

and bring him to
high honour.

See how (till of
^ . mercy that King
DoO of Heaven ia I

584

For, after Evm^
coo »*c»»'« Pnver to
000 him.

592

heenablea Seraphe
to ground all hia
foes,

and take no
daadly wo«nd«

596

136 TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER ON BOTH SIDES. [cH. ZIU.

•o that men M7 So that tbev seide Al In fere,

Heraphe luu saved

Evaiach Mid bu ' That Eualach were scomfyt jif he ne weroi 600

And bothe his worschepe & his lend
That day hadde be Reft Owt Of his bond.'
But Go we now to the Hyhte weye,

Hear how seraphe And berkene how Serapbes gan to pleye : 60i

Whanne the tweye batailles On him were set,

Thetwobattaiiona Thev wenden ban put him to gret thret,

tliink they'll take _, "^ ^ o >

him: For SO many speris broken there was,

That It semed to AUe y in theke plas 608

they break a That Al A forest hadde borsten In sunder,

forest of speara

about It, So hidous was the Koise, & so ful of wonder ;

And whanne here speris thus to-broken were,
then puu out their Here swerdis they pulden Owt Al in fere, 612

aworda, knireis

•ud axea, Here knyves and here Gesarmes bothe,

And grete Axes Also forsothe,

And Othir wepenis Mani On Mo.
goaffatnat And thus A^ens Seraphe gonne they to go, 616

Seraphe,

There forto preven here Maistrye
Deaf 8, bk, odi. 1] Vp-On Seraphe with-Owtcn lye ;
and make anch That 80 gTct Occision Of Men there was

alanghter

Ifeld to Grounde Annon In that plas 620

With the hydous wepenis that weren there,
For so wondirful strokes were neuer sein Ere,
What vppon helmes, & vppon scheldes,
that thebodiea And vppon hawberkes that flowe?* into feldes, 624

look like a moan*

uinofmen, So that it semed there A gret Mownteyn

honea, and arma. _^, o^«- ^t^^i ni

Of hors & Men that there weren Slayn,
And Of here wepenis that lyen hem by;.
So wonderful sihte it was tho trewly 628

Ood alone eaa That no touce ne Myhte it thanne telle,

daaerlbe the eight ^ ^ '

C* Poan] But Only he that Alle thing gan^ Bpelle,
Of whom that Cometh Alle Connenge
From begynneng Into the Endenge. 632

And now scholen ^e here?^ More In Echo degre
How that Afbir it fyl Of this Semble :

CH. ZIII.] SERAPHE AND HIS FIOHTINQ DESORIBBO.

137

Ful wondirfulli wel didew Seraphes Men

Wlianne Into that Semble they entred then ; 636

But Of the prowesse and the worthi dede.

Of the hardynesse And Of the Manhede

That Seraphe dide with his Owne hond,

It is ful hard to Ony man forto vndirstond ; 640

And Of the Merveilles that be him wrowht was,

Wexen iieuere Of Man Sein In non plas ;

For A gret Ax took he bctwenew both his honde,

Where-with he wrowghte ful Mochel schonde, 644

Whiche that was trenchaunt Scharpe & Menreillous,

Kiht A merveillous tool & an hidous,

And therto him self was A large Man,

With grete thyes, As I discryvew kan, 648

And in the Scholdres bothe strong & large,

Where- vppon he scholde beren his targe.

With grete stepe^ Eyen In his lied Also,

And strongliche boned he was therto.

With smale handes And fyngres longe,

And therto gret strengthe Euere Amonge ;

So that A me/'veillous siht it was to se

Him thus On horsbak, As thinketh Me, 656

And A good hors that him bar,

Whanne Into that semble he prekid thar,

So that he Ferde lik A man ful Of prowesse

Whanne that his scheld he threw down in that presse,

And his hors bridel he fastened Ful wel, 661

And gan to sterin him with his^ Ax Of Stel,

So that theke day no Failled he nowht

That Alle tho to Grownde he browht 664

That to-fom him stoden In his weye,

Wherfore Of him they hadden gret Eye ;

Somme, the bed from the body he smot ;

Somme, the Armes ; somme y scholdres, foot-hot ; 668

* There is no Frenoh for this word or line, to help to settle
the meaning of this muoh-dieousst < stepe ' (7 prominent) eyes.

8erftph«'a men
fought wonder-
ftiUywtU,

bat he wrought

•Qch matreU ae
man never aaw.

He had a big axe.

a hideous tool,

and he was a big
man.

with strong
shoulders.

652 uid bones.

He rode a good
horse ; and when
he charged into
his foes.

be felled aU that
stood in his waja

smiting off heads
and arms.

138 EVALACU'S STRENGTH. THOLOMES REINFORCES HIS MEN. [CH. XIII

dMTinf mtn In And somme the legge^s, And 8om7;te b" body On sondir,
And som/ne he so Claf As Strok Of thondir ;
And Mania hors Slowgh he ded In the feld,

•Uying knighu And be him Many knvht ded vndir his scheld, 672

And fbo(>inen, "

And Many A footman he slowh that stownde,
And Manie Of here hors he browhte to Grownde,
That so Manie Mtfrveilles wrowhte he that day
so that yet hii That Into this tyme sit of him speken we May : 676

Manhood U talkt ^7 r j j

ot Of his Manhod & his Chevahrye

It were I-nowgh An herowde to discrye,*
Yet he fSer^he) But To him self It was vnknowenge

knew not

Of his Owne Merveillous werkynge, 680

For he supposed not withlnne him selve
That he hadde the Myht Of ten Mew Oper twelve ;
oftheproweat Foi b* prowesse that he dydo, ne knew he nowht.

that he did,

Lo what for him he wrowht that him bowht ! 684

[leaf s. bk, eoi. s] And he thowht fill litel that be £iialach6 preyer

or that It came ^

ftom EvBiaeh'a Was tho prowesse that he hadde there,

pruyer.

The wheche was A man bothe loyful & Glad,

Evaiaeh and his And Alle his knyhtes thanno beholden he bad 688

knights nSoice at

seraphe's deeds. The prowesse Of this Seraph ii,

And Of the MerveiJles that did he,

And of the world he was the worthiest knyht

As that day tho semede be his fyht ; 692

For Tholomes Men he made to tie,

And of hem Slowgh ful gret plonte.
BatThoiomca And whanne Tholomes beheld this Gas,

And how pat his Men losten here plas, 696 .

Thanne gret sorwe Ss schame he hadde ;
sends np his 2nd Anon the sccund bataille he gon forth badde.*

pair of battalions.

And whanne Seraphes Sawgh hem Gomen Ny,
Wit^ hem he thowhte to Meten Sadly ; 700

seraphe uds his Anon he seide to his knyhtes bolde,

mon await the *' '

attack. « That stedfaste to-Gederis scholde they hew holde ;

MS driacrye, or dri»trye,/c>r 'descrye,' describe.
* Si lor BDvoia les autreg Jj. batailles. — A.

CH. XIII.] sebaphe's men give way. he fights on.

139

Apd that A good stert they scholden Abyde,

And leten hem Come vppon hem Eide.* 704

So that they Comen In gret haste A-down

Abowtes Seraphes Men In-virown,

And On hem broken they here lawnces faste,

And 3it lemeved not Seraphes Men til At y laste ; 708

And here scheldes they leiden faste yppon.

And jit stooden they stille As Ony ston,

And rested hem stille In that place

Til they Sien the tyme whanne nede was ; 712

And thanne Atte the laste they tomed Again,

So that Many A man was there slayn,

Where-Oifen was gret ^breth Of hors men,

But scais On Of Seraphes Ajens of Tholomes ten, 716

The wheche that discomfited were.

And In that feeld lyen still there.

But Atte laste y two frcsch batailles

Seraphes Meti ful sore Asaylles, 720

And strokes On hem leide ful sore,

So that they myht Suffren no More,

But tomed here bak And gonnen to fle,

And forsokew the grownd of Seraphe. 724-

And whanne Seraphe gan this beholde,
Seraphe gan hem Ascrie Mani-folde ;
jit Seraphe left not for than,

But Tomed Ajen As A worthi Man, 728

And his Ax in his hondys he bar,
And Manie Of hem per-ynth slowghe thar ;
He to-Clef bothe habiriown & hawberk.
And Amonge^ hem Made A sory werk : 732

Here helmes he to-Clef A-two,
Here Scheldis he Alto-schatered Also,
Here hedis he Clef Into the teth, —
Thus hem he serveth that Ajens him beth, — 736

So that non Man his dyntes Myhte Abyde
They weren so Merveillous At that tyde.

They stand firm
•a « stone.

then torn on their
foM, and slay
many.

[I ?dethl

But at lost
Seraphe's men

give way and flee.

Seraphe

however turns on
the enemy.

and splits their
helms

and heads;

no man can abide
his Uows.

140

EVALACH's steward reinforces EVALACH. [cH. XIII.

Alto King ETft-
Ueh'i Steward

rides ap to

hi<p8«nplM,

and hli mtn (the
Snd battalion, p.
ISO) foUow him.

P DIM, p. 1st, 1. 1]

Tholomes** two
batUlions attack
that of Evalach'a
Steward.

The Sieward bida
bit mea keep
doee.

at he hopet to
break through to
Tholomea, and
ali^him.

And whanne kyiig Eualach steward this beheld,
That to seraphe were Coined two batailles In ]j* feeld,
And how freschly they fowhte7» him Agein^ 741

Where-Offen he was A-drad Certein —
For non Er sawgh Eualache Steward
Ony Nede To gon to him ward, 744

And Seraphe to socouren In that plas —
To him ward Rod he A ful gi'ct pas.
" Now Certein," quod this Steward,
" WiHi Seraphe it stond so hard 748

That Al the world him helpe ne may,
So mochel peple vppon him lay ;
And jif I Ony lengere ALyde,

He nis but ded At this Tyde ;" 752

And Anon with that word there
He prekede forth On his destrere.
And Al his Meyne holyche with him ;
There began Anon bataille ful Grym ; 756

And to the tweyne batailles^ Comen they Anon,
That yppon kyng Eualach scholde hauen gon.
And whanne they sy y steward thus Comenge,
A^ens hem tho batailles Comen prekynge 760

Lik As the tothere diden before
To Seraphe, whereby thei han lore
Mochel Of Tholomes Meyne,

That be Seraphe Slayn there be, 764

"Now," quod Eualach, "God, for thy Myht,
So spede Seraphe that Gentyl knyht ! "
Thanne this Steward, to his lordis seid he,
" Loke]> stedfastly that to-Gederis ^e be ; 768

For 3if we these two batailles mown breke,
I hope Of Tholome kyng to ben Awreke ;
For I ne thenke neuere Er to blynne
Til that I kyng Tholomes bataille be wM-Inne ; 772
And there I thenke him forto sle,
Kyht Among Al his Owne Meyne."

CH. XIU.] EVALACH*S STEWARD HURLS THOLOMES TO THE GROUND. 141

80 wenten thei forth be that OrdeiiaTi77ce

To knowen how that myht ben here Chauwce, 776

And fulfilden his Comaundement,

And Eedin forth wi\Ji riht good Entent.

But that schowT was As scharp^ As A dart, ^

Por there mj&nj Mo weren On Tholomes part

Thanne On the Stewardis Serly ;

Therfore was that stour ful Stordy ;

But ^it Comen they neuere so faste vppon,

That the stewardis Men A^ens hem gonne gon, 784

Til that to-gederis they weren Met

The lengthe of A Gley ve with-owten let ;

but Euere the Steward let hem pase

Tyl that with CCC knyhtes Entred he wase— 788

And somwhat Mo Of his Meyne —

With-Inne Tholomes bataille Entred he,

That Fyve thowsend hadde he with him

Of noble knyhtes both stowt & Grym. 792

And whanne thus to-Gederis weren they Met,

Many A steme 8t[r]ok there was Set ^

Be-twenen bothe partyes there,

So that Of Tholomes lost Manie per were 796

As thowh they hadden falle In-to the se,

So mani Of Tholomes Men lost there be.

So that forth prekyd the steward In J?at pres
Evene Ryht to Tholome ; er wolde he not ses. 800
And Amonged his Men him smot he so,
That down to the erthe he gan to Go,
This kyng Tholome, both hors & Man,
Thus to therthe the steward smot him than ; 804

And there he Trosted him forto ban Slayn,
Where-Offen the Steward was ful fayn,
And At the Erthe tho stille him held.
And wend ban slayn him vndir his scheld. 808

Thanne Cam Jjere On Of Tholomes knylites.
That Myhti & strong was In fyhtes,

TheshodcofUie

f OU at Tholomes ham
most men;

bat the Steward
with aoo knights

breaks throogh
the Egyptian
line, 5000 strong.

right np to
Tholomes,

hurls him to the
ground, both
horse and man.

and hopes to slaj
him.

But one of Tholo-
mes's knights

142

TH0L0ME8 IS RESCUED BT HIS MEN.

[CH. XIIL

imltM the
Steward betireen
his thoulflere.
[^Fr. 'eioom']

This knUcht the
Steward knocks
ou to Tholoroes,

whoee men rcBh
to rMooe him.

EiagETalAeh

seeing the itnig^
gle, and the

Steward's danger

orderi hli nephew
Archimedea
(p. ISO, 1. 4S1) to
go with him and
SQoooor hie
Steward's men,
while he helpa
the Steward
himselt

And sinot this Steward, there he lay

Vppon Tholonie his lord In fay. 812

Betwene bothe scholdres he him thorwh smot,

As^ he On Tholome lay tho foot-hot ;

So fat Ano/i this steward Tomed Agein,

And so that knyht smot In Certein, 810

And vppon Tholome he made him to falle,

That Anon tho Creaunt he Gan to Calle ;

And that Sawgh the stewardes Meyne,

And faste to him there gonne they fie, 820

This Tholome to han kept Ofer han Slayn ;

This was here purpos thanne In Certayn.

And Tholomes Men that go/?nen Aspie,

And to here lord they gonne faste hie, 824

Him forto deliueren from his Fon,

Also Faste As they Mihten gon.

And wha?me king eualach this ]^felle gan beholde,
Ful sone his herte be-gan to Colde ; 828

And whanne that he Sawgh this Melle
In thre diuers places thus than/ze to be.
How that the peple Of Seraphee
With fourre bataylles fowghten heo, 832

And Of the Meyne Of his Stewarde
That with tweyne batailles fowhten wel harde,
And Also for his Stewardis body.
He was ful of Sorwew Sekerly, 836

That A3ens Tholomeres bataUle
Whiche that he gan so sore to AsaiUe ;
.So Eualach Comanded his nevew tho
The stewardis Mew Socour forto do, 840

" And I his Body now wele Socoure,
Oper with him to deyen In that schowre."

Anon bothe these batailles goTincn Owt Glide
As Sparkles owt Of fyr doth Ony tyde, 844

And yppon here Enemyes they gonne to go,
Kyng Eualach and Archemedes Also ;

OH. XIII.] EVALACn'S STEWARD IS TAKEN PRISONER.

143

"Wheche Archemedes tho semblew be-gan
Forto Refreschen there the stewardis Men,
Thanne wolden fese batailles non longere Abyde,
But to here lord Tholome tho gownen thei Clyde ;
For thei flowen to him tho ful faste,
So Archymedes Men On hem gonne;* thraate ;
So fledde they to here lord for socour,
For the grete Angwich Of that stour.

And Eualach — that to Tholome was gone,
His Steward forto don socour sone, —
He saugh, & stood, & there beheld,
How, with as grete Mases As they myht weld,
On his Steward [they] leiden strokes Mani-folde,
That pite & Eowthe it was to be-holde,
With here Mases Coronaled with Stel, —
And Al this beheld Eualach ful wel, —
And Thre wowndes On his body were,
That Tholomes Foot-mew hadde ^ovew hem there ;
For so with Arwes was he hyrt,
Wheche hyrt tho Mihte he not Astyrt.
And whanne Eualaxsh^ thus Saugh him be-stad.
And Amonges hem thanne forth So there lad,
And therto his Meyne So wownded were,
That Sore Agresyd was he there,
So that Anon he gan forth to Ryde,
And Alle his knyhtes be his syde ;
And Er that he to his Steward Myht wywne.
Fowl betrapped so was lie hem w/tA-Inne,
They him hadde taken As presonere,
And with hem forth gonne leden there.
And whanne that he Cam In-to the plase
There As his Steward so Taken wase.
His helm Of taken they hadde.
And to-fom Tholomes they him ladde.

848

On ArehlmedM't
Attack,

Tholomu's bat-
talions give way.

852

and flee to their
lord.

Evalach

856

nl« steward
beaten with

860

864

headed with iteel.

and wounded

witharrofrs.

868

872

But before he eaa
reach him, the

Steward
is led off, as a
8^0 prisoner.

880 toTholomea

The MS has Tholome,

144 THOLOUES KILLS THE STEWARD, AND FIGHTS EVALACH. [CH. XIIL

[1 Phim]

TbolomM draws
hit sword to eat
off tb« Steward's
hMd,

bat, not hartng
timt, as Evalach
comsaup,

fhrosts the
Stsward throogh
tbabody.

Tholomes then

chargssat

Evalach;

their shields and
laooss break;

and they fight on
foot.

Their men fight
fiercely too.

Syalaeh cannot
break throagh to
his Steward.

And to the Erthe there they hem^ Caste.

And thanne Cam forth Tholome Atte laste ;

Anon he drowgh his Sword So Feer,

The stewardis hed to han smete;* Of ther; 884

For Erthly Man was non leveng In londe

«

That so moche he hated, ne wolde schonde. r}^gf]

And whanne that Tholomez scholde han snjeten Of his

And he myht han had leyser In that sted, 888

He Sawgh kyng Eualach So faste Comenge

That he was let Of his puiposinge ;

And whanne he Sawh ]jat it myht not be so,

Thanne Otherwise he gan forto do, 892

Vnder his hawberk In-lawnced he

Thorwgh the body, And that was pyte.

And whanne he hadde So I-do,
Anon to his hors tho gan he to go ; 896

And A^ens kyng Eualach gan he Hyde,
And Eualach A3ens him with gret pryde ;
And so sore there to-gederis they Mette,
& There so sore strokes Ech On Other sette, 900

That bothe here scheldes [flowe] Into y feld,
And Ech Of hem bad Other 3eld.
And whanne to-broken weren here lawnces,
Thanne Aftyr behappid many harde Chaureces ; 904
Thanne On foote gonne they Alyghte,
And there began A wondir strong Fyghte ;
Thanne gonnen they there A scharp Schowr
That was Angwyschschows & ful Of dolowr, 908

So that Mochel peple was there ded,
Of Men And Ek hors In that sted.
And Evere kyng Eualach enforsed him faste
Thorwgh Tholomes pres Forto han pa^te 912

Into the place there that his Steward lay,
jif he myhte it Kecovere that day ;
But Euere they putten him of -with gret strengthe
That Entren he ne Myhte In brede ne lengthe, 916

GH. XIII.] THOLOHES RALLIES HIS U£S% AND WINS FOR A TIME. 145

T7I bothe batailles weren discomfit tliat tyde,

That Feist Aichemedes [036x13]^ gan to Hyde.

And whanne this Bataille discomfit was

Thorwgh Eualach^ Mejne In that plas^ 920

And flowen to here lord Tholome,

And After Of Eualache Mejne gret plente,

& whanne that Tholome Sawgh thus his Ost

Ouer-throwen & Slayn with gret host, 924

And Eualache Men After hem purswen tho, —

Yvl Mochel sorwe In his herte gan to go ;

Thanne Tholomes his Men gan to Ascrye

With A lowd voys, And Ryht An hye, 928

'^ On Eualache Men tometh je A3en,

And vppon him proveth that je men ben I "

And So Tomed they the hedes Of here hors

Thanne A^ens here Enemyes with gret fors ; 932

And they On foote schotten faste

Wit venymed Arwes whiles they wolde laste,

So that Manye hors there they Slowe,

And moche Othir peple In that Howe ; 936

Eul hard & strong was the Melle,

& Mochel peple lost In Eche degre,

Of bothe partyes there Mani On

To the deth on bothe sides were they don, 940

But Only Of Eualache Meyne

There was persched gret plente.

Thanne whanne Tholome gan beholde
That he hadde the bettero be manifolde, 944

Ai^on A Massage tho he Owt sente
To him that the yiijthe bataille kepte presente,
* That In non Wise Asemblen Scholde he,
Tyl that Comaundement he hadde Of Me/ 948

Thus to him he sente Anon ful Eyf,
Non Other wyse to don, In peyne Of his [l]i£

■ See p. 143, L 849-851. French, ' Tant ke lea .fj. batailles
a qui archimades aaoit assamble, furent deeoonfitea.' — ^A.
ORAAL. 10

TholomM, seeing
hU men routed
by Ardilmadei^

mdothenbj

•honta to them

to tarn on
XraUch's men.

They do 10^

■hoot polsond

UTOWI,

and alay many ot
EvaUdi't men.

Tholomes ts thoe
wiimiiig,

and sends orders
to liisReser\«not

to attack UU he
bids it.

146

CHAPTER XIV.

SEBAPHB'b deeds, and the end of the BATTL&

Of Scraphe ; the Tsloar of him and his men (p. 147) ; his deeds
with his axe (p. 147-8) ; how he did not tire, and all fled
from him (p. 148) ; so a messenger tells Tholomes, who
sends him to his brother Manareus with orders for
Manaious to fight Seraphe (p. 149) ; Manarous comes
with 55,000 men, and routs Seraphe*B 20,000 (p. 150);
Seraphe weeps ; cannot rally his men (p. 150) ; but he
and eleven knights still fight on, and he kills Manarcus,
whose men make a great cry (p. 151) ; Seraphe kills
on, bat Blanarons's men kill seven of Seraphe*B eleven
knights and his horse (p. 152) ; and then the other four
knights (p. 152); Seraphe kUls a knight who throws
q)ean (p. 158); takes his horse, and kills away (p.
153-4) ; Seraphe*B second horse is killed, and he ridden
over (p. 154). He awakes from his swoon, mounts
again (p. 154), cuts one knight*s left arm off, and cleaves
another knight in two (p. 155). He rides into the field,
kills a knighti is shot through the shoulder by an arrow
(p. 155), and thrown to the ground, his horse being
killed under him ; but he mounts again, and tries to get
to Bvalach*s cross (p. 156). There is great slaughter (p.
156). Sixty knights rescue Bvalach from 500, and mount
him again, but he is surrounded by 2,000 of his enemies
(p. 157). Seraphe rides to his rescue, but cannot reach
him (p. 157-8). Evalach is taken prisoner, beaten (p. 158),
and cairied to a wood ; he looks on his shield and the
cross on it; sees Christ crucified (p. 159), and prays to
God (p. 160) ; a White Knight with a cross on his shield
oomes out of the forest (p. 160) ; Seraphe fights on, he
sees Bvalach*s standard, and shouts (p. 161). The White
Knight leads Tbolomes to the Rock of Blood (p. 161) ;
oharges at him, and unhorses him. Evalach's knights
take all Tholomes^s knights but eleven (p. 162) ; Tholomes
surrenders to Evalach ; Jekonias takes him to Orkauz ;
and Evalaoh takes the rest of Tholomes*s division
(p. 168). The White Knight helps Seraphe (p. 163) ;
8eraphe*s danger; the White Knight kills two of his
opponents (p. 164) ; Seraphe swoons ; Evalach and the
White Knight help him (p. 165) ; Evalaoh unhorses a
knight, and gives the horse to Seraphe ; Seraphe mounts,
and is as fresh as ever ; the White Knight gives him an
aze from God (p. 164) ; Evalach, on Tholomes's horse, re-
asBembles his men and makes two divisions of them ; they
renew the fight (p. 167) ; Tholomes's men are in distress for
tlieir master (p. 168) ; they are slain, maimd, and taken.
How well Evalach, Seraphe, and the White Knight
fought (p. 168-9). 11iolome8*s men draw near the Bock,
thinking it is not guarded (p. 169) ; but it is, and Evalach*s
men pursue and slay them (p. 170) ; Narbus, Tholomes*s

CH. XIV.J

OF BXRAPHB'a DEEDS WITH HIS AXB.

147

steward, surrenders to Evalaoh, who wants to kill him
(p. 170) ; but Seraphe intercedes for him. The end of the
diay and the battle (p. 171) ; Svalach and his army go
back to Orkauz, where there are so many prisoners, that
the king tents outside the city (p. 172).

Now lete tb Speken Of Seraphe,

Of his worthinesse, & Of his Meyne

That yi with fowre batailles don fyhte,

And kepen here Owne As men Of Myhte ; 4

For As it is put Into Memorye

For On Of the most wondir Stoije

That Eu^re was Bad In Ony book,

Owther In Storye, As Men Cowden look, 8

For so lytel A peple & so vigerous

Ajens so Manye & so therto dispetous ;

For ther myhte neuere Man hem wttA-stonde

Whiles they hadden Ony wepone On honde, 12

So that Seraphes Men On horse & Foote

Heelden Tholomes Men wondir hote.

But that storm ne dured neuar han Myhte,
Ne hadde ben thorgwh Seraphes Fyhte ; 16

For So mochel prowesse was neuere In Man —
As for the Meyne that he hadde than —
As was In him Seyn that day there.
For so they seiden that At p* stowr were. 20

For so worthy A knyht In non pkse
Neuere to-fom there sein wase ;
For his plase wolde he not forgo,
That he and his Feleschepe hadde taken hem to ; 24
AUe Made he here bakkes forto bende.
And Of here lyres browht hem to £nde
That In his weye Gonnen forto stonde.
Wiih his Ax he wrowhte hem Mochel schonde ; 28
For here hedes he smot Of Faste,
Here scheldis & hawberkes Alto-braste,
And leyd hem ded there In the feeld,
Many A knyht there yudir his Scheld ; 32

8«nplM §nd his
meb bold tlitir
own agiimt 4
Egyptian

Softirnartr

OOQldbmTC

wlthatood to
many.

bat fbr Serapbt't
prowMi:

h«m«d«aUbla
foMb«Ddtb«lr
baeks.

nnotooffUMlr

148 BERAPHE NEVER WEARIES OF KILLINQ THOLOMES's MEN. [CH. XIV.

l«f«, uid anna.

and hathad hU
axa In blood to
thahUt.

36

40

And yal ha narar
gravwaary.

44

Daaf>»coLl]

thoof h hia man
dU,

ao that all
Tholomaa'a hoat
Had from hinb

48

Helmes, bawberkes, & ventaylles Also,

Alle to the Grownde he djde hem go ;

Legges & Aimes Of smot he there,

And thus mochel peple slowgh In dinars Maneie,

That his Ax he bathede In Mennes blood

From the point to the bylt, there As he stood ;

And Al this Of him SofiOred this Meyne

fat Ajens him fowhten, & weren W2t^ Tholome.

For fat day ne myhten they distroyen his powere
For non thing that they Cowden don there ;
Bat Al that day heeld him In On degie ;
And not wery[er] thanne Semed he
ThaTtne he was whanne he gan ferst to fyht,
Nether no More he lakked his Myhte, —
Of wheche him self yndirstonding he took,
As tellith the storye Of this book ; —
[For] wery Of his Armure was he not thore,
[N]o more thanne he was In the Momeng before,
[A]nd As fresch he was Evere Forto fyhte
As In the Morwneng he was, I the plyhte,
And As vigerows he was Onne forto se
As thowgh non thing to-fom him hadde be.
And there As his Men ful wery they were,
& Al forfowghten In that place there.
He hem Comforted with Al his Myht,
And Of Al that stowr he ne took but lyht,
And hem Reqwered ful vegerously
That be him they scholden Abyden by.
For As mochel grace In him was Alone
As In Alle here bodyes Every-Chone ;
For, ne hadde Only the myht Of him ne be,
Clene hadde ben lost Al his Meyne ;
For Elles myhten they neuere ban kept fat plase,
For the Multitude Of [tho] that A^ens hem wase ;
But from Seraphe they fledden Euerichon —
Alle Tholomes Meyne be On And be On, — 68

52

56

60

64

CH. XIV.] THOLOMES SENDS MANABCUS AGAINST BERAPHB.

149

And thus dared Seraphe Al that day
Til it was past fer noon tho In faj.

Thanne gan there A Messenger forth to gon
To kyng Thblome, there he was Anon,
And seide to him In this Manere,
'' Sire, A wondirful knyht Is now there,
That Al this day hath kept the lorme
A^ens thy fowre batailles, Sire Tholome ;
And jit discomfit l^euere they been
In non thing that we Conne seen,
And Enere Ajens On Of his knyhtes
There ben tweyne Of Owre Owtryhtes
And Mo Sire, jif I Scholde Say,
Thanne I Cowde Certeinly Bekene parfay ;
And, Sire Tholome, As I the now seye.
They ne doren not Comen In Seraphes weye."

Whanne Tholome herde here-Ofifen tho telle,
Wei Mochel wonder In his herte tho Felle,
What Merveillous knyht that it scholde be
That so Mochel hadde Of powste :
" Go Faste now," quod thanne Tholome,
" To Manarcus, My brothir so fre,
And Seye that I sent him gretyng,
Him Forto hyen Ouer Alle thing
With Al the bataille that is witfi him.
That he Come Adown Also steme & Grim,
And that Of his bataille [he] ne leve not On,
But with him bringen thedir Euerichon,
And, as vigorously & with As gret prowesse
As Euere Entred men Into Ony presse.
That he On that Entren Anon,
And As moche distroccioun As he may. don,
That he ne spare for non thing,
But with that knyht to haue Meting. *"

And whanne Manarcus here-Offen herde telle.
That wit^ that worth knyht he scholde Melle,

72 TholomMUtold
bow Senqpb*
•lands agftinrt
Ibur battalioni^

76

80 thooffhth^
oayrambtr his
BMn, two to ooo.

84

88

TholomM lends
to hli brothor

92

96 to aitMk Btnpb*!

100

Kiuiarcni

104

15D MANABOUB's FBI8H XBN BOUT BSRAPBB's TIBBD ONEB. [gH. XIY.

[I]n herte he was bothe glad & blithe,

And Tholome thanked fal Mani A sithe.
That tyme Anon was Manarcos Body,
Hpd bi» BMB And Alle his Mejne that weien him by ; 108

And 80 faste they Comen yppon, '

With dyvera wepenis Manion,
attMk 80T^piM*t And there Maden they here Assembling

[V]ppon Seraphe, that wery was Of Fyhting. 112

Now be-gan there A myschefful stour

That was Angwisschous And Ful Of dolowr ;

For Seraphe, Scars there he haddo

Twenty thowsend* Men that he with him ladde, 116

And Manarcus browhte with him
40,000 flrwh van Fowrtv thowsend bothe Stowte & Grym,

(wlthU,000lB '' ^ '

I) And In his Eerewarde thowsendes fifbene

Of faire hameissed Men, wel piked & Clene ; 120

againrt 10,000 And Seraphes Meyne, So weiy they were,

And so forfowhten toforetymes there,

That non lengere ne Myhten they fyhte,
Ben^tM*! BMn But Tomed here bakkes ])&re Anon Eyhte. 124

And whanne Seraphe that beheeld,

His Meyne As-scomfited In the feld,
8««ph« weepi Ful tendirlv thanne there wepte he tho,

■t thdr flighty

And mochel Momeng & sorwe he Made ))6rto : 128
'^ Alas ! " quod he, '' what is now myn Aventore,
For nedis I most Abyden this schowre,
And my Meyne thus from Me go !

f Now what Is best for me to do ) 132

For non Other helpe here Nys Certein,
But be taken, Ofcr ded, vppon tins pleyn ! "

bvtthntakw And At that word his Ax he took In honde,

His Meyne to Bescrye, ^if he myhte fonde ; 136

But so Fer weren they I-fled than.

That tomen Ajen wolde they for non Man ;

' Oar let gens seraphe n'eetoient mie plus de .viy. mile, et
1! autre estoient plus de .zxx. mile. Car en la darraine
bataille anoit bien jet. mil homes et plusi — Jl,

CH. XIY.] 8ERAPHE SLATS HANARCUS AND MANY OF BIB MW.

151

And so fer wenten they Evene streybt Anon
To the passage Of the blodj Eoch Of ston.

And wbanne Alle this heheld tho Setaphe
And that it thanne Myhte non Othirwise be,
His hors hed he tomed tho Ageyn,
And with him but Enlevene knyhtes Certein.
And there As was the thykkeet pres,
He with his knyhtes Entrede, & wolde not see.
And so it happede, As he gan forth Eyde,
He mette Maharkus At that Tyde ;
In the Midde weye As he gan go,
To-Oederes they metten bothe two ;
And there left [he] yp6 his Ax tho Anon,
And to this Manarcns he gan to gon ;
There his hed he Clef down Eyht
Eyene to the Scholdres, I the plyht,
That ded he fyl down there Anon,
That Alle his Meyne It Syen Echon.
And Alle that Evere Cam in his weyo,
Of hem spared he non tho Certeinlye,
Bat Other to the deth he wownded was^
Othere Elles dismembred In that plas ;
For nethir hors ne man ne scaped him non,
That Alle to therthe they wenten Anon.

And whanne Manarcus men this beheld, —
That here Cheventein was slayn In the feld,
And Ofrhere felawes ded Also, —
Ful Mochel Momeng thanne Maden they tho,
And Setten yp tho An hnge Cry
That Into Eualaohe Ost was herd Clerly,
There As he fawght with Tholome.
Ful wel Al this Cry tho herde he ;
But 3it ne knew tho not Seraphe
Whom he hadde slayn, ne what was he.
And whanne so Mochel sorwe they gan to Makei
Thanne gan his herte tho foito Awake,

140

144 ■BAvHhll

knlgdu thugm

14«

15S

156

160

164

168

8«nph« elMvet
Maitarent to tlM
■bouUl««a

and lUyt mmnj
ofhU

Therntietop
abngeery.

lMit8«raph«
doMn't know
172 whomtehM
klUd.

}52 ,ALL BEBAPHX'S RBMAININO KKIGHTS ABE SLAIN. [CH. XIT.

And forth he prekede Into that pres,
And with him his knyhtes, & wolde not ses ; 176

And theie here grownd he made hem forsake.
And Manye Of hem Slowgh, and dyde moche wrake.
When Mananoi'i And whanne Manarcus bataille say

men ggf thst

only It oppoM That bnt twelve Of hem weren parfay, 180

7^ For ful sore thanne Aschamed they were

That they Of so fewe scholden han fere,
[i«Bf 5. bMk, And Anon yppon him Eetomed A^en,

T^bX bothe doel and gret pete it was to seA.; 184

th«j Mt Tigor- And ful vegoroasly On him they sette,
out 7 OB nph^ g^ ^j^^ ynth stronge Strokes they Mette

■ndiUj hit That his hors vndir him was Slayn,

hit 11 knightfl. And therto y\j Of his knyhtes In Certayn. 188

Thanne weren there left but fowre & ho,

Whiche was gret doel thanne forto se.
smvphe flghto Now Is seraphe In the place On foote Alone,

But foure of his knyhtes, him self f • fy[ft]he persone.

And manye Merveilles there wrowht Seraphe, 193

As here-Aftyr Me heren tellen schole 30 :

He slowgh down Eyht bothe hors & Men,

Helmes and hawberkis to-kraked he then ; 106

and •teyi knighto Bothe knyhtes and bacheleris yppon A rowe,

In that Feld he gan hem down throwe ;

Bothe palettes & scheldes he to-Craked Asondir,

That Among So moche Multitude it was gret wondir
He and hie 4 That he And his fowre knyhtes dyden there, 201

great heape of 8o that grete hepes Of dede Men there were,
**^***' Of dede hors and wepene that there lay,

Bo.Mochel Moordre Of peple was that day. 204

And whanne his Fowre knyhtes this beheld.

That he was so Manful In the feld.

On they leyden, & Fowhten ful faste,
At last the 4 Til alle fouro weren slayn Atte laste : 208

Knighte are

eiAin. Thani\e was there non Other boote

But that Nedys Seraphe besteien him Mote ;

CH. XIY.] 8EBAPHE SLAYS A SPEAR-CASTINO KNIGHT. 153

And wlianne that his felawes he sawgh ded,

Thanne Cowde he non Other Eed, 212

Bat yppon bothen his feet stood ther,

And beheld the hepes that Abowten him were ;

Ek Also he loked 3it ferthere Abowte,

And Al Abowtes him was A ful gret Rowte. 216

Anon his Ax the[n] took he On honde, 8««phe

Byht forth Into the pres tho gan he fonde.
And to A knyht there Ran he to slyde picks ont %

rm -».- , 1 ^ Knight who hat

That Many spens hadde Cast In that tyde, 220 nat muiy •pean.

But 3it Manie mo hadde he forto Caste ;

But Seraphe him lette tho Atte laste ;

Seraphe Anon there Mette him with his Ax,

But Neuere, Aftrr that, ful litel he wax, 224

For the Ryht Arm he smot Of Clene

Thorwgh hawberk and haberiown, her was it sene, cie»ve« um to

the breastf

That down to the brest the strok tho wente,

And the Ann Into the Feel[de] pere fley presente ; 228

His scheld from him Also smot he there ;

As thowgh that the body Asondir were,

His herte Owt Of his body ther fyl, » that us heart

fall* out of hla

And he In the Feeld ded there-tyl. 232 bodyj

And whanne the Bemnaunt behelden him tho,

That sweche Merveilles he gan to do,

Non Of hem ne was So hardy

To Entren his place, ne Comen him Ny ; 236

And that ded mannes hors he took Anon,

And lyhtly Into the sadel he gan to gon, thenjunpton

hil hOTMy

As thowgh him hadde Eylyd non thing,

Ne non point Of Al his Armeng. 240

And whanne On hors that he was set,

Thanne hadde he gret lust to Fyhten bet.

And there his body putte In bawndoun.

To the tothere peple ful mochel distroccioun ; 244

And forth Into the pres he wente ; charg«i aoaw

Into the Unonga

There Nas non that he myhte hente,

154

BERAFHE's H0B8B IS KILLD^ AJ7D HB TBAUFLD ON. [cH. XIY.

■Inyt right
and left.

[leaf B, back,

ool. 2]

and driTM his

foM to Uie

narraw panaga

brttMBookof

Blood,

where tbej

arealltakeD

KlMoan.

Batothenof
Manaraos'e men
torn on Seraphe^

kill hia horsey
[i?han]

and trample
over bim till
he ia nigh dead.

Bat Seraphe
awakes ftom
hiaewoon.

epringalntoa
iaddle,

That here Annea from the body he smot tho,

Here hedes Offe, here lemes Also ; 248

Here helmss, here harberions, he barst On Bondir,

He[Te] ScheldeSy here speris, that it was wondir.

So that he drof hem forth In his weye

Til to the Eoch they Come, As this doth seye, 252

Where As was the streyte passage ;

Thanne weren there take, bothe bacheler & page,

And As fele As the keperes wolde have

Of that Eoch, and wolde hem save. 256

And whanne tho that behinden were

At the Eoch [sien] here felaws slayn there,

And the Eemnant prisoners take,

Thanne Amonges hem was moche wrake. 260

And whanne they Seyen Al this fare,
That Eualach swich knyhtes hadde thare,
Pul Irowsly tomed they Into that pres,
And for nothing ne wolden they ses 264

Tyl that to Seraphe the Comen Agayn^
And vndir him his hors has ' Slayn ;
& Er that he Myht Eelevyn Ajen tho,
Two hundred hors Ouer him gonne go, 268

Ouer his Body there In that plase,
So that Ny ded forsothe he was,
So that he lay Stille In swownyng
The Spas Of tweyne bowe-drawhtes schetyng ; 273
And thanne wenden they he hadde be ded,
For whom they Moornede In that sted,
For that he was So worthi A knyht.
And there so wel hadde bom him In fyht, 276

That they ne hadde taken him prdsonerd
3if that his lif Myht have be saved there.

Alle this while lay Seraphe In Swowneng
'Wliiles these knyhtes weren thus In talkyng ; 280
And whanne Of his Swowneng tho he Awook^
Anon there Into A Sadel he Schook ;

CH. XIV.J 8BRAPHB BLAT8 A KNIGHT, BUT 18 WOUNDED.

155

His Ax Anon On honde took be,

Swich meryeilles werkyng fat wondir was to Be, 284

He Mette A knylit Anon hastely theroi

Of whom he ne hadde but lytel feie ;

With bis Ax be Eewardid him tho,

That bis left Arm Into the feld gan go. 288

Thanne Anothir ther6 him Mette Bedilj,

And Seraphe to him was ful hasty,

& there so him bitte vppon the bed

That his body he toclaf In that sted,

Evene to bis Sadelis Arsown,

That he In the Feld fyl ded Adown.

Thanne theke bors be the bridel be took,

And his ferst bors tho be forsook ;

His Foot In the sterop^ Anon be sette,

& sprang Into y sadel, & not ne lette ;

^ity As forbrosed As he was,

He prekyd forth Into that plas.

And whanne tho knybtes behelden, Echone

That beforu tymes for him Made Mone,

That he was On borsbak Ageyn,

Thanne Amonge^ hem gonnen they seyn, 304

And Ech Of hem to Othir gan Schewe

That wondirful Merveille On A rowe,

For they wenden tho In Certein

Owt Of that place neu^re to recoudren Agein. 308

Anon forth he gan him dresse
To the grettest maister of pat presse ;
And with bis Ax to him he Ban ;
Yppon the helm he smot him than 312

That he fyl down there In the plas,
So Of that strok Astoned he was.

Thanne Arwes to him gonne they schetei
4nd Manye Speris that weren grete, 316

So that with An Arwe they him tho smot,
That Evene thorw the Scboldere it hot,

chops off OM
knighl'iannt

dMTM another
knigbttohto
292 saddle-bow.

296 takaathit

knighfa bona.

300 and chax^M ainte
hiaibaa,

who wondar
that he haa
reooverd.

Seraphe kiUa
the atrongeat
manoppoad
tohlxn.

Ha ia wounded
by an arrow.

156

8BBAPHE TRIES IN VAIN TO RESCUE KINO EVALACH. [CH. XIY.

[lMf«,ooLI]

and with ipMtft,^

but not mortally.
80 h« starts up.

moonts another
hoFM^andridM
off towards king
Svalacb,

but hit fbsa
bar his waj.

Beraphe's msn
rush towards
him;

there's a llsros
fight; many.
ar» slain.

and fiTalaeh
is lost.

That the schafl thorwgh him gan go

Pul halfendel the Schaft & Mo. 320

And whanne he Felte pat so hurt he was,

Pul [yrjsably he Eod Into that plas,

And him Steiede As he ferst began ;

But he was hurt Of Mani A man ; 324

Bothe with Arwes and with Speris

They diden hym ful many gret deris,

And to the Erthe there down him thiewe.

And his hors yndir him they Slewe. 328

And whanne that he Sawgh he myht not Abide,

Vp In that pres he Recouerid that Tyde,

And Felte that he hadde non dedly wounde ;

Anon yp he Stirte In that Stownde, 332

And Anothir hors he sawh where stood ;

There Anon vp into the Sadel he jood,—

Wheche hors was bothe Fre and kende, —

Evene streyht toward Eualache p* wey gan wende, 336

That him Ofte he bemente ful sore,

In his herte neuere Man leveng More,

That so lefte he Neuere with-Owten les

Til that he Cam Into the grettest pres, 340

Eualaches Signe there Forto have sein ;

But Afbyr him they gonnen preken Certein,

And him forbarred they the weye there

That he Eualach Mihte not Comen Nere. 344

And that Sien tho the Men of Seraphe ;

Anon towarda him they gonne faste fle ;

TowardiB Tholomes Ost gonne they gon,

And there Mcrveilles they wrowhten Anon ; 348

And so hardelich they fowhten, & so sure.

That On bothe sides was gret discomfiture

Bothe Of Tholomes Men & Eualachs pe kyng ;

Many weren there dede, bothe Old & 3ing, 352

But Amonge« hem kyng Eualach was lost,

That they ne wiste Into what Cost ; —

OH. XIV.] ,60 KNIGHTS RESCUE EVALACH. HIS POES CLOSE HIM IN. 157

For Tholonie kepte him Owt Of that rowte

More thanne tweyne boweschotes wM-Owte. 356

And whaime Seraphe there-Ofifen herde,
Into that gret pies tho forth he Ferde,
And there Sawgh he where Eualach lay,
And his swerd On honde drawen parfay ; 360

For his hors vndir him was there ded,
Whiche was to Eualach A sorweful Eed.
And Sixty knyhtes hym gonne Eeskewe,
There A^enst .v. hundrid they fowhte?* Al newe, 364
So that they kyng Eualach Eescwed Agein
With here grete Escryes tho In Certein ;
And On horsbak sone was he Set ;
Thanne there Anon witA his Enemyes he Met. 368
And whanne they that him to-foren took,
On hun behelden, & Connen to look,
Thanne On Eualach they sormownted Ajene
Ful Irowsleche there Alle be-dene ; 372

And Eualach^ his Ax there took On honde,
And departed wit^ hem pat Abowtes him gon stowde.
So that anon there he was betrapped
Amonges two thowsend, As it tho happed, 376

That so the Syht Of him his Meyne lost there,
And ne kowde not weten In what placje ne where.

And whanne Seraphe Saw he myht him [not] finde,^
Al his Meyne he lefte him there behinde, 380

There prekyng forth Into that pres
That for non Of hem wolde he not Ses,
For ded Kathere wolde he han be
Thanne owt of that bataille forto Fie ; 384

Tyl king Eualach hadde he Fownde,
He nolde neuere parten from that Grownde ;

' The French makes Seraphe do this : *' Quant il [Seraphe]
les vit yenir, si fu mult iries, et laisse eualach, si prent la
haohe a deus mains, si lor keurt seure. . . . £t quant il qoida
retoomer a eualach, si 11 orcnt ia fourclos." — A.

' et quant il vit que 11 ne lo troueroit — A.

Seraph* rldtt

to reeoM ETsUth

whom horae hat
beenkilld.

eotofiOOthej
are.

Bnt they reacoe
Evalach,

and remoant
him.

Eralach flghta.

3leaf 6^ col. S]
hot geu ear-
rounded by 8000
of hii foee.

When Seraphe
cannot find
Evalach,

he tome on
Tholomea'e
men.

158

KVALACH 18 TAKEN PRISONER, AND BIATEN. [CH. XIV*

bnt they art

■otferongand

danM

fhat ht oaanot
brMk throayh
them.

On thaoklMr
■Ide of them
U BvalAch,

nm thronffh tha
body with 8
■wordSy

and taken
priaoaar by
Thotomae,

bralad,

the blood run-
ning oat of hia
month, eara,
and woanda.

ao that he la
Bigh dead.

For him to lesen In that Maneie tho

He ne wolde, And OthirwiBe Mjht it go ; 388

But the strengthe Abowtes him was

So Meryeillous there In Many A plas.

That him Neghen not he ne Mjhte,

Kethir Of him to hauen non Syhte, 392

Por the Melle & the peple there was so strong,

That Enduren Seraphe ne myht not long.

And thus As Seraphe was Evere Abowte

To han broken the scheltrom Of that Rowte, 396

And Euere they him withstoden than,

3it Neueretheles Slowgh Seraphe Mani A man ;

But Euakch was vppon the tothir Syde

Betrapped ful sore In that Tyde, 400

For hvrt he was thorw his body

"With thre Gleyves Sekerly ;

And him pr^oner hadde taken Tholome,

And be the brydel forth him ladde he ; — 404

jit what with strif, & what with Othir,

Euere Eoalachs men fowghten A gret fothir ; —

So that At the histe this Tholome,

"With XV knyhtes Of his Meyne, 408

So Ferden they with kyng Eualach

That they tobrosed him bothe body & bak.

So wery that they weren forfowghte,

That no more defenden hem no Mowghte ; 412

And so Euakch tho forth they ladde

As that kyng Tholome hem badde.

That so was he forbrosed and forbete

That Of his lif he nowht ne leete. 416

So that the blood Ban Owt At his Mowth

& At his Eren, that was Selcowth ;

For so Mochel blood he hadde there loste

That In what plase he was he ne woste ; 420

His wouTides tho hadden So Sore I-bled,

That In that place he was Ny ded.

CH. XIY.] EYALACH 18 LSD INTO ▲ WOOD. HB GAZES AT HIS SHIELD. 159

And so from his Meyne they him drowe

Ful.fer thens Into A lowe,^ 424

And him there ladden Into A woode

That there hesides tho hem Stoode^

And Ek his felawes him heside.

That with him were taken In that Tyde ; 428

And to this woode hem ladde Eu^ichon

There Forto Onarmen hem AUe Anon ;

For }it Armed weren they Alle,

That So Manye Men they dyden down falle. 432

And whanne Eualach Sawgh pia grete Mischef,
That he was fallen Into so gret Eepref,
And Eu^re with-onte Eecoueringe to he,
Thanne Moche Sorwe & Mone Made he.
Whanne Eualach to the woode Aproche he-gan,
Thanne wax he A wondir Sory Man,
And Caste his Eyen vppon his Scheld,
And the vigowr Of the Cros pere he heheld, 440

That In his Scheld there was it set ;
And Euere y holy Signe he beheld bet,
That so longe there he be-held

Vppon the Eede Crois In his Scheld ; 444

So longe beheld he that Crois thanne,
That In theke Crois he Sawgh y forme of A Manne
Vppon that same Crois Crucified to be, —
Thus In that Crois him thowghte Sawgh he, — 448
And Feet & hondis him thowghte Also,
That yppon A Eed blood Eonne they tho.

And whanne Eualach this Sawgh In his Scheld,
And these Merveilles there he beheld, 452

Thanne gan he Forto Syghen wel Sore,
And 3it to wepen wel Mochel More ;
& bothe wit^ Mowth & herte tho he thowghte,
But for febilte myhte he speke nowghte, 456

> et 11 rauoient ia ealongle de la bataille bien demie lieue.
—A.

He and hit
fellow-eaptiTM
are led into
a wood

tobonnannd.

y

Bralach

436 makea mneh
■orrowaad
moan.

He easta hie eyea
on hie shield.

and looks to long
on Joeephee'a
Red Croat

thai he eeee in
it the form of
a man cruciHod.

[leafS^baok,

001.1]

He elshi and
weeps

160

BYALACH PRATS TO GOD. ▲ WHITE KNIGHT COMBS. [CH. XIV«

and pnjsto
God, ThrM in
Ona^

to enable him
to reeelTe tnu|
belief.

and prodalm
Him

as the only God.]

"Save me from
deathi"

AtoDoea
Knight oomea
oat of the foreela

bearing a white
ahlald with a
red croei,

riding a white
hone.

Thia knight
tome Tholomea
toward* Orkans«

'* 0 verraj God that Sittest In Maieste,

As it is told, — On Go4 & p^rsones thre —

Of whiclie I bere the Signe Of his passioun !

So, Goods lord, take me to savacioun, 460

That I Moot Resceyven 30wre CreauMce,

And In Stedfast beleve-, wit^-Owte» variawnce,

Thin holy name Forto proclame,

That thow Art most Sothfast God Of Name, 464

And Most Mihtful god In Alle degre,

And non god ne lord but Only Euere je !

So Save me, Goode lord, In this grete schowr.

From Angwich, deth, and Alle dolowr ! " 468

And whanne this woord he hadde I-^eyd,
Ahowtes him he lokede In A breyd ;
And he Sawgh Comen Owt Of that forest
A semly knyht there;, araied wzt^ the best, 472

And Clene Armed from Top« to the too.
There thus Ryaly gan he Owt Go,
And Abowte his Nekke heng A whyt scheld
Whiche that was seyn Ouer Al that Feeld — 476

In whiche Scheld was A Crois so Bed,
In Signe Of him that Suffrede ded ;
Therto his hors As whit As the Lylye Flowr,
And he A worthy knyht and of gret valowr ; 480

In his Scheld a spere ful Redylich leyd,
"With Alle hem to Meten, As it Is Seyd.
And whanne y knyht his hors wtt^ his Spores he took,
On hym Tholomes Meyne ganne forto look, 484

And to Tholome kyng he Cam ful sone.
And him Torned Agein there Anone^ ;
Toward the Cite Of Orkauz tho

This white knyht ladde Tholome tho, 488

And towardis tholomes Ost they wente j
Bnt Tholome knew not here Entente.

* si iete les mains, si prent tholome par le frain, el i^«a"
toume a tout ariere vers la ohite tout droit — ^A.

CH. XIY.] THE WHITE KNIGHT LEADS THOLOMES iiWAT. Ifrl

And Euere Saraphes fawbt strong & Lardo senphe flgbt*

A3eiis Tiiolomes kyng liis Eerewarde, 492 Thoiomm's
So fat Alle that Evere Ajens him fowghte ""

Wondred that he So duren fere Mowghte ;
And Atte laste Eualachs signe he gan to Ascrye He ihoutt at

Evaliich'i itand-

"Wit/t A wondirful voys & Ryht * An hye, 496 ard soioudiy

that TholonoM

That bothe Eualach <& Tholome it herde bear* a.

Into that plase how that it y Ferde.

And thanne Seide kyng Tholome Anon,

** Let Ys Ordeyne oxire Meyne, & fast hennes gon, 500

For discryed now alle we been

Thorgwh this Chasing, As I kan seen."

Thanne destreris with spores gonne they prikke, and cpon oir.

And Amongis that Chasing Eedyn ful thykke, 504

And the white knyht Eood Anon Bnt the whiu

Knififht leada

To Tholome As faste As he Cowde gon : Thoiomw'«hon«

by tlie bridle.

And this white knyht Tholome be y bridel ladde,

That non Of his Meyne no powere ne hadde 508

Hym Ajen forto Restreyne.

Bat Evere wende Tholome In Certeine

That the Forest Al day to-Fom hym was, 511

Tyl that to the streyt of the Eoch bee Comen be Cas ; — tm they come

to the narrowB

But there say no man that white knyht, of the Rock

Saufe Only Eualach, In his Syht. —

And whanne they comen to that Streit passage [leaf e^ bade.

There As to-Fom was don So Moche Kage, 516

Tho that theke time the passage kepte,
Ful sore For Eualach ban they wepte ;
And whan they him In this Maner sy him gon, where Eraiaeh'e

men let them —

They leten hym thorwgh passe riht Anon. 520

But it was wondirful InjtShere syht,

The werkyng Of this white knyht ;

And [whanne] this passage weren they past, wh4n they get

In the Middis Of that Feld Anon In hast 524 *"'^*****T*

' and Ryht, repeated in the MS by mistake.
OEAAL. 11

163

THB WHITB KliliaHT UNBOBSSa THOLOMES. [cH. XIY.

th« White Knight
totoThol9am99,

■ndnnhonM
him*

this, dnwt hit
•word, and gOM
toTholomaa.

ST^laoh's nm

ohaitTholomM'f,

MtdkUlaU

hut el«Tfn|

whomth^
Mptnrt.

Er«lAch kfltpi
TliolomM dowfl
«B4h«^oani^

There this white knyht lefte Tholome,

That but fewe Of his Meine him Miht se.

And gan wel fast Alowd To Ciye,

" Goth to now, Goth to, And fat In hye." 628

And whanne this Cry herde Tholome,
He gan to baschen, and al his Meyne,
And to him he Ban A f ul gret Cowrs,
& that knyht Tholome gan vn-hors, 532

And down to therthe there him Casta
Bothe hoiB & Man, £r he thens paste.

Whanne that Eualach tho this beheld,
How that Tholome was feld In the feld, 536

Tho Owt his swerd he drowgh Anon,
And to-ward this Tholome gonne to gon.
And whanne they that the passage kepte
Syen this, thanne Anon forth they lepte 540

To king Eualach here Owne Lord,
There Alle Anon Bedy At On word,
And after with lawnces gonnen they Chase
To tholomes Men tho In that plase, 544

And Anon with here Speris down hem Caste,
Tholomes Men in fat plase fere Atte laste,
Everichon, Sauf Only Enlevene, —
Which was the moste wondir vndir y heyene 5 18

How that they In theke feld Come
That To-fortyme Atte forest weren Al some. —
And wha^me they seyen thei scholde thus be take,
Thanne AmongM hem there was mochel wrake ; 552
I^ot-withstondyng ^it A)en they fowhte
Also longe As that they there Mowhte ;
But here defens here Angwisch Miht not Slake,
For it was Goddis wille they scholden be take. 556

And Eualach yppon this king Tholome
There lay. As alle his Men Mihte Se,
Wheche the white knyht hadde down thro we ;
Kyng Eualach him kepte tho ful lowe ; 560

OH. XIV.] TH0L0ME8 IS LED CAPTlVfc TO ORKAUS.

16J

And therto I-Maymed Manye Of his Men,
And jit Ajens Eualachs On liadde lie ten.
Thanne this Tholome heeld Tpe his swerd Anon,
And to kyng Eualach homage gan he don, 664

And there he be-Cam his presonere,
And therto Al his Meyne In fere.

Whanne Tholome to Eualach hadde mad fiaunod^
Thanne lekonias Clepid he, witJi-Ovrten variaunce, 668
That the blody Eoche hadde In keping ;
And him he Comaureded Oner Alle thinge, .
' To taken Anon this kyng Tholome,
Hym forto leden to Orkaus Cyte,' 57d

" And worschepfully that thow him kepe there
As A worthi kyng In Alle Monere."
That thus thanne be leconyas
Kyng Tholome Into this Cite I-lad he was.
And king eualach Abod stille In the feld
Til Alle tholomes gonne hem jeld j
And euere As he took his Meyne,
He dide hem leden to Orcaus Cite. £80

And whanne that Alle Itaken they were
[TJhat Of Tholomes Men weren there.
He gan to Eesorte to that bataylle
[T]here Seraphe fawht with-Owten Faille ; 584

And with him jit ladde he there Mo,
Alle that the passage kepte tho,
Sauf Only An hundred Of his Men
That Ful Fresch to Fyhten were they then. 588

And whanne they weren past that passage,
An09} the wh}'te knyht was to-forn herd yitog^,
And In his hond that knyht bar A banere
Of Eualachs Armes, Evens Eiht there. 692

And Anon As they sien Sire Seraphe,
To that bataiUe thanne faste prekid he,
There As Seraphe manie Merveilles wrowhte,
That In-possible Swiohe MerueilldS don Mowhte, §96

tlUThot<Hn««
•ubtalfcii

•nd b«eomM hia
priMoer.

JweslM

takes TbolomM

576 toOrkaia^

whither hit
men are led
captive too.

[leaf 7. col. 1]

Eralaeh goes to
help Seraphe.

The White
Knight Joins
tl«em.

tS4

THB WHTTB EKIOHT RBSCUBS 8EBAFHE. [CH. X17.

TheWltlto
Knli^t cbfxiM
up to Sermphe,

who It attackt
fej Mvwi knlyhU,

and toraly man-
glad bjr iroD

That Eucre the body Of On Manne

Scholde don that lie dide tbanne.

Anon this white knyht prekid Into ^at pies,

And for non thing ne wolde he Sea 600

Til that To Seraphe he gan gon,
* Where as he Sawh sevene knyhtes Anon

Thfit Abowtes Seraphe there stoode,
: And On him leyden as they weren wode ; > 604

Tweyne be the biydel hym Jjere heeld,

Tweyne be the he!m to maken him 3eeld ;

And tweyne A3ens the herte leide hym vppon

Wit hevy Maces Of Ime As hard As ston, " 608

So that his Flesch they Alto-Eente

With here Mases there presente.

And whanne the white knyht fia beheld^

Fid sore he prekyde In that Feeld 612

To On Of hem that Seraphe heeld ;

And him thorwgh the body he bar vndir his scheld,

That ded he was Anon ryht thare ;

And thus sone to Anofer gan he fare, 616

& with his swerd smot Of his hed

)>at of it fley, and he lay ded,

Amyddes the Feld there it lay.

And thanne to the tothere he wente In fay, 620

And Made hem to dyen vppon his poynt,

And Made here bodyes In Evele loynt^

So that they forsoken this Seraphe

That from here lyves gonnen they fle. 624

And whanne these Other two pat him held

Be his helm there In the Feeld,
Om kniffiit On Of hem drowgh Owt A lite knyf,

trios to stick

sorapbo thitragh And wolde han b^-Eeved Seraphe his lif, 628

his heimot. Forto han smeten him AMiddes the Fase

Thorwh the Oylettes of his helm In that plase.

Bat Ouercomen so was tho Seraphe

That Cpmfort with him Myhte non be, 632

ThsWh^
Knight spears
one of Soraphe's
ftiss.

diopstho
sooond's head

on;

and kills three

CH. XIV.] SERAPHE SWOONS. THE WHITE KNIOHT SUPPORTS HIM. 1G5

For he was Onercomen so with his Wood

So it was Morveille that [he] ypa stood,

For, On hors, power hadde he non to sitte,

Ne Of that stede there Onys to flytte ; 636

But for febelte that he Inne was,

Oner the hors nekke he bowede In that plas,

That power yp to Sitte non hadde he.

So that Of his purpos Failled his Eneme. 640

And thus gan In Swownenge seraphe to falle
Amonge^ his Encmyes bothe gret & smalle ;
So that they faillede, his Enemyes, tho.
Of the harm that they him wolde han do. 644

And Anon As that this kyng Eualach
Sawgh Sire Seraphe In Al this wrak,
To him ward ful faste he gan to Hide
Forto supported him at that Tyde ;
For sekir he wendo that he ded hadde bee/t,
And l^enere On lyve him forto have seen.
Thanne wit A sorwefol herte he gan to Crye
Ful Petowsly, and that Eyht hye, 652

" A wrechche ! to longe now have I be,
That thus have lost now Sire Seraphe ! "

And thanne Anon there with this word
Prekyd the white knyht be his Owne Acord,
And Susteyned Seraphe from fallynge,
That theke tyme there was In Swownenge.
And whanne Of his swownenge that he Awook,
Thanne ful mochel Mone to him he took,
For he ne wiste where that he was.
In what stede, ne In what plas ;
For wende he tho ful Sekerly
To han ben In the hondis Of his Enemy. 664

And Eualach bar him ful worthily tho,
For Into the pres forth gan he go.
And Mette there with A worthi knyht
Wich that was Scomfit Anon In fyht, 668

Seraph* la to
weakfWmiloM
of blood.

that he •woona.

BTiladiridei

648 toanpport
Seraphe.

Dear7,ool.S]

656 The White
Knight kaepa
Seraphe from
ftUing.

660

Xing Sraladi

166 THB WHITE KNIQHT OIYEB 8ERAPHB A FRESH AXE. [CH. XIV.

groimda a knly hty

and RitM hit
hone to Seraph*,

vhoatonee
JumiM on It,
ae freeh as erer.

TheWhSto
Knight givee
Seraphe a (Vesh
aMllh)mOod

handler than
hie old ona.

And kyng Eualacli to the Erthe him Caste,

And hym from his hors Anon he wraste,

And Cawht it In his hond there Anon ;

Therewith toward Seraphe he gan to gon : 672

" Haue now here, my dere Freend," seide he,

" This litel present now Of Me,

For thow bowhtest Keuere so dere A thing *

From begywne[n]g In-to the Endyng." 676

Whanne that Seraphe this gan beholde,
In his herte he loyede ful Mani-folde,
That Alle his Sorwes format he there
Whiche that his Enemyes dyden him Ere ; 680

And yp Into the sadel he sprang Anon,
As Fresch & As lusty In flesch & In bon.
And As lusty was there forto fyhte.
And therto him thowhte As of Strong Mihte, 684

As that he was Ony tyme be-Fom j
But thanne his Ax hadde he lorn.
Thanne seide he, ** Certes, And I hadde my Ax On honde,
There scholde no man A3ens Me stonde." 688

Thanne Anon Cam forth the white knyht^
And seide, " here is On, Al Eedy dyht ;
And lo, Sere, by me it Is the sent
From that God Lord Omnipotent." 693

And whanne Seraphe this felt In his hond,
Thanne gan he wel Forto vndirstond
That lyhgtere and more hondsom it was
Thanne his Owen to-foren In that plas ; 696

There-by wyst he, whanne he Cam Owt Of swowne,
That theke Ax Ferst was not his Owne.
So thanne Eyden they In-to that prea,
And for non Men ne wolden they ses ; 700

And Eualach On Tholomes hors Eod,
So that with him was there non Abod.

' onquea nudfl n^eustes don qui si ohierement fuit achates.

OH. ZIV.] EVALACH GATHERS HIS HEN FOB A FINAL ATTACK. 167

And whanne Al this beheld Tholomes Meyne,
Amojxg^s hem "waa sorwe ful gret plente, 704

Be Encheson that Eualach ferst they sye,
WM Tholome In warde, hem faste bye,
And now Enalaoh On Tholomes hors doth Eyde ;
"Wherfore they maden sorwe that Tyde ; 708

And therto Nabure, Tholomes Steward,
Kyng Eualach hadde taken In ward.
3it More, this Eualach, with-Inne A throwe,
With An horn ho gan to blowe, 712

And Made his Meyne to Kesemble Ajen ;
And tho that weren left, Retomede ful Cleen.

Thanne Afbir, whanne Assembled weren they Alle,
His signe he hem Schewed as gan befalle, 716

Whiche was fastenid vppon Yna scheld —
To his Meyne he it Schewede In that Feeld.
Thanne his Meyne On two batailles he sette,
And with Tholomes Meyne sone they Mette ; 720

And Comanded and preide tho to Seraphe
" That whawne he hym Sawgh in y Moste Melle,
That Seraphe In the Rere-ward scholde Falle
On tholomes Men, And On hem there Calle, 724

And with his Bataille to preven his Myht,
As he was bothe worthi and gentil knyht."

Thanne Gonnen they to preken here destreris
As vaylaunt knyhtes, bothe worthi & Ferss, 728

And Evere the white knyht to-fom hem was
W*t^ the baner On honde In that plas,
And his swerd with the tothir bond I-drawe,
"With wheche Manye A man was Slawe.
Thanne gan kyng Eualach lowde forto Crie
" As Armes ! knyht bacheler, and belamye !
For now hath kyng Tholome lost his Men Alle,
Swich Aventure Is now to him befalle ! 736

For Of hem Schal Skapyn not On,
For Al tho Myht that they ko?ine don."

Tl>olomM*> mtn.

■orrow at weing
him a priaoner.

and hli steward
Narbaa [p. 170-1]
too.

Evalach
raoalla hia boat,

[laaf7,l»ck,
ool. 1]

to fiiU on
Tholomea'fy

whila Serapha
takes them
in rear.

The White
Knight is
always in
front.

732 ilayiBg

iGd

MORS OF THOLOMES'B HOST ARE TAKEN OR SLAIN. [CH. XIV.

TholomM't nun

flMT Ibr tlMlr
Unff.

iTBladi*! niMi

tnkeortlaj
nearly all of
them.

with 8«rtplM's
help.

Wh«r« tlM
heftdb gona,
theUmbifldL

BeraphedoM
wonders.

And whanne this herden Tholomes Meyne,

They Kiste what to dopte In non degre^ 740

But hem thowhte hit scholde be trewe.

For Eualach hadde Chongid his hors newe,

For On Tholomes hors thanne Eod he.

As Alle his Men there Myhte thanne se ; 744

Thanne the drede that they hadde

Was, lest Tholome to presoun hadden be ladde,

Owther ellis In the Feld there Slayn ;

Of wheche Of these they weren no Certayn. 748

Kyng Eualachs Men Among^ hem thraste,

That Of theke pres but fewe there paste —

Whiche that weren kyng Tholomes Men —

Ofer taken Ofer Slayn Er they wente then ; 752

And lik As Men that Amased were^

In that plase So stooden they there.

And whanne Seraphe beheld this bekering,
Non lengere he ne Abod For non thing, 756

And Tholomes Men Closed Al with-Inne,
So fat from hem myhten they not twynne ;
So that Angwisschously Ascryed they were,
And slayn, takyn, & Maymed, Many weren there ; 760
For In distresse & Sorewe weren they Alle tho,
For here lord & GovemoMrs weren Alle Ago,
And they ne wiste whedir to Springe,
For In theke Contre knew they non thinge ; 764

And wel Askapen Myht they not there.
For On £che Syde here Enemyes were ; —
So that it semeth ' there the hed is Gon, .^
The Membres Fayllen thanne Everichon,* — 768

For there say neijere Man So fayr A begywneng •
As hadde kyng Tholome, ne so fow[l] An Endyiig ;
For TJ dowble Meyne hadde kyng Tholome
Thanne kyng Eualach In Every degre. 772

There wondirly wel dyde Sire Seraphe,
And so dide king Eualach with his Meyne,

CH. XIY.] THOLOHES'S MEN RETIRE TO THE ROCK OF BLOOD.

169

That Neuere Man that was Of his Age

I trowe hadde neuere So Mochel Corage ; 776

And the white knyht there bar him so

That Neuere Erthly man mo MerveiUes myht do ;

For In that Feeld Scheldes he schatered,

And Speris & helmes Alto-Claterid, 780

Knyhtes & hers he slowh down riht,

Hedis, Armes, and legges In that fyht,

That non man hym there Askapen ne Myhte,

So Tigerows and fel he was In fyhte, 784

That thus be his Chevalrie & knyhthod

He hem In-gaderede As he Hod,

And browhte hem to Eoalach y kyng,

And to-ward the passage, wM-Owten lettyng. 788

Whanne kyng Tholomes men had Aspied

That thus Sore they weren Anoyed,

To that streit passage gonne they drawe

Where-Offen that weren ful fawe,

And wende72 that non Man hadde fere he,

The passage to han kept In non degre,

And wenden forto A Recouered fat passage^

That Eualach, for Al his Owtrage, 796

Ne scholde not han past be theke weye, —

This was here Entent tho Sekerlye, —

Where-thorgwh J)* Cite he Schold not have,

Where tholome & his Meyne weven ful save ; 800

For An hundred men myht han kept Jxit pas

From Al the world, so strong it was ;

For non mo On front myhte Entren ther

But ten men At Ones, As I seyde Er ; 804

For they wenden tho ful wel

fat there Eualache kcperis hadde left non del ;

And so As men that weren wery for-fowhte,

Vp6 to the Roche wenten As they mowhte, 808

For ther6 Supposed they forto han Eeste.

But it fil not hem for the beste,

12

The Wliit«
Kuight

sUf 8 men and
hones.

no one c«n
escape him.

Tholoroes's men

draw back to
the narrow pass
792 of the Bock
of Blood,

thinking that
EvaUich has
left no guards
there.

170 THOLOMES'S MEN ARE SLAUGHTERED AT THE PASS. [CH. XIT.

But they And
at the PaBB,
E^nhM^h's meO|

wh« chM0,

sliljr, and take
them:

the blood&hed
is terrible.

Narbae,

Tliolomea'a

steward,

yielde ap hli
iword to
£vahich,

and praye that
he may be
ransomed.

Eiralach says
No: he

mast die.

Steward for
Steward.

For whanne they that kei)to7j the pas
Sye/i to tliat Roche so manye gownen tras, 812

Hem thowhte Mo thawne Ml there were,
And At y Roch but .C. that it kepte there ;
And wha;ine they sien ^[e« kepe« the pas,
Thanne newe sorwe to hem Coiue« was; 816

And Ajenward they wolJe han gon,
. But there- Inne Socour was tliere non.
For tho that On hem folweJ so faste,
And they Atte pas schotte/t Atte laste, 820

So that they slowe/i & token Of that Eowte
As Manie As weren hem Abowte ;
Thanne was there Mad so gret dolowr
That neucre was sein swich A stowr ; 824

For so moche blood was In that plas
More thawne Owher Enere seyn was ;
For Me?», hors, and scheldis, that In )>• blood lye,
For multitude of blood no man hem sye. 828

And there was beten On Narbus,
J)at steward was to king Tholemus,
And there to Eualach him ^ald Ano?},
So he him woldew save/i body & bon ; 832

And there his swerd vp gan to 3elde
To kyng Eualach In that felde.
But Eualach him ne wolde not save
For non tiling that he Cowde Crave ; 83(5

But his hors dismembred he Anon,
And also him he wolde han slon.
And he tho knelid Anon fere down
That he myhte be take/i to Raunsown ; 840

" Nai," quod Eualach, " that schal not be ;
Swich Mercy getist thow non Of me ;
For my steward haven je Slayn,

& so schal I the here In Corteyn ; 844

Therefore the Chonge it is ful hard.
For I wele haven steward for steward."

OH. XIV.] THOLOMES'S UTTER DEFEAT: HE LOSES 68>000 MEX. 171

And liis Armure he dide Of Caste,

His hed to han smetew Of atte laste. 848

And thanne Cam forth Sire Seraphe :

" A, Sire ! what thinkew to done 30 1

^if 3011x6 steward ded now be,

Tholome hath lost, Sire, swich thre ; 852

And his Owne brother so dere,

That he loved As mochel there

As 3e jowre Steward trewly ;

Therefore, Sire, On Jj/s man haveth Mercy ;

Fo[r] I him Slowgh witfi Myn bond,

Sire, I do 30W to vndirstond ;

Therfore, sire, I preie to ))•

That Of this Man thow have pite." 860

So ]>ai there gen til Sire Seraphe

This man Savede, As 30 mown se.

Ful Mochel & gret was the discomfiture
As that tyme be-happed be A venture ; 864

And the Nyht drowgh On ful faste,
For the day It was Ny paste ;
Whiche was ful deseysy to Eualachs Men,
But 3it Atte hardest not for then,
For so Manye thei slowen And tokew that tyde
Atte passage Of the * Roche Of blood * beside,
That Of hem ne pasten not fere Away
Two thousend, what hurt & hoi that day.
That Tholomes^ Mew ne -distroied Echon —
So fat tyme with Eualach the grace gan gon, —
Of wheche at the begynneng were
Sixty thowsend wel hameised there.
And thus the Egipcian, be goddis Myht,
At theke tyme werew distroyed be fyht.

Thanne to Orcaus ward wente Eualach, —
A lie the Egipciens to Mochel wrak,— 880

And with him AUe his Meyne
That At theke tyme hadde he.

[leafs, col. 1]
R«mph« bcgt
Evalaeh

806 to have mere/
on Narboa,

and 80 aavea

bis life.

Night drawa on.

868 So many of

Tholomaa'i men
are slain at the
Paaa of the
Book of Blood,

872 that not 2000
getofT
[1 f Evalach'il

876 ont of 60,000.

Evalach marohea
back to Orkanx.

172 EVALACH RETURNS TO ORKAUZ, BUT TENTS OUTSIDE. [CH. ZIT.

AU Eralach's
men g«t plunder
from the Egyp-
MaiM J

■o many of
whom an
hnpriaoned in
Orkaui

that EvaUch
ii obliged to
pitch hia tenU
•utelde the
•Itf.

For fere nas no Man Of Non degre

That thorwgli theke bataille holpen was lie ; 884 •

Bothe duk, knyht, and bachelcre,

Alle werew Encresid that weren there,

je. And also bothe ^omen and page ;

For Alle here lyres hadden they Gage. 888

And w'hanne Eualach Into the Cite Entred was.
So Manie prisoners ho fond In that plas,
And Of here Maistres that with hem were,.
Tliat non Spas was to walken In there, 892

Nether On bora, netliir On Foote ;
But Owt Ajen Nedys he ^foote ;
And afom the Cite he let pichcheTi Anon
Alle his pavilouns there thanne Everichon, 896

In A £edr plase that was so pleyn
To-forn that Cite tho In Certein ;
And there al that Niht herberwed he,
And with him al his Meyne. 900

CHAPTER XV.

Of Evalach's Queen (Sarracynte) in Sarras. She sends for
Joseph, and asks how Evalach has got on (p. 173) ;
Joseph's answer (p. 174) ; the heathen kings^ &g. are to
be cast down, and the poor exalted (p. 175). Sarracynte
cries ; she asks Joseph to pray for Evalach (p. 175) ; and
to expound Christianity to her (p. 176). Sarracynte is a
Christian, and tells Josephes of her Christian mother, and
her father, who was a brute (p. 176-7) ; also, how her mother
was ill of a bloody flux, and went to a good hermit, and
askt help (p. 177). The Hermit tells her that Christ alone
can cure her (p. 178) ; she says, 'Ask Qod for me, I will
give you gold.' He says, ' Believe in Christy and he
will heal you ' (p. 178). She does, and he prays to God
and proclaims her whole ; she is (p. 179) ; thanks God ;
and is baptized (p. 180). She takes Sarracynte to the
hermit. Sarracynte says she cannot worship him on
account of his beard, but she will worship Christ if he
is fairer than her brother (p. 181). A glorious man —
Christ — appears ; Sarracynte is christened (p. 182), and th«
hermit, tells her of Christ (p. 183). Her mother receives
the sacrament and Sarracynte does so too (p. 184) ; both go

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CH. XV.]

OF BARBAOTNTEy EVAIJLGH*8 QUEBK.

173

I

e I

borne, and hear of a great beast (p. 185). Samoynte's
brotber goes to hunt it, and is lost in the forest (p. 185).
Her mother says the hermit is a true prophet (p. 185),
They r^oice in their faith (p. 186). Her mother sends
the attendants out> and tells Sarracynte to get a box (p,
186); Christ comes out as bread (p. 187). She charges
Sarracynte to keep the box, and think on Christ (p.
187-8) ; and go and tell the hermit of her mother's death
(p. 188) ; and get him to put bread in the box, and look
at it every day (p. 189). Christ appears over the mother's
bed. Her mother dies, and Sarracynte goes to the hermit
(p. 190), who gives her Christ (p. 191). She goes away,
and meets a man, who tells her the hermit is dead
(p. 191), and asks her to ride back to his cell (p. 192) ; they
go back ; the man mourns ; then digs a grave (p. 193) ;
takes the head of the corpse, and tells her to take the feet ;
she excuses herself (p. 193) ; they bury the body. He
scolds her servants, and then baptizes them (p. 194) ; and
remains in the cell. The end of Sarracynte^s answer
(p. 195). Josephes says, * Why don*t you worship Christ
now 1 ' she answers, ' My husband is so angry ; convert
him ' (p. 195). She asks how her husband has sped in the
battle, and Joseph tells her (p. 196).

Kow let Ys beleven Of kyng Eualach,
And Firthere Into this Mater now let ys walk.
And Of these Cristene Speke we bedene
That In Sarras ben, Sixty & Fyftene, 4

lik As YS tellith the Storye
Of Eaalachs wif here Sekerlye,
That A wondir fair womman sche was,
And fill worschepful In EYery plas, 8

And ' Sarracynte ' was that qwenes Kame,
A worschepful lady, and Of Noble Fame.
And whanne that Eualach with his Ost forth wente,
So moche Mone sche Made, sche was Ny Scbente, 12
For Eualach, that was Most In hire Mynde
Of al Erthly thing, and that was kynde.
Therfore sche sente For losep^e Anon,
To weten how that the Cause scholde gon^ 16

111 As Mochel Ab that Er he seide
* That hire lord scholde ban Abreide,
And perto thre dayes & thre Kyhtes to bo
Yndir his Enemyes powste, 20

X2«

LlMfS, ool. 2]
L«t '• leaTe
King Bvahush,
and spnk of
tbe 75 Chriattutt
tnSanu,

and of Evaladi'a
Qoeen

Sarra^Tnto,

WhtnEralaeh
want to battia^

sha lant for
JoMph, to
know how har
hoiband would
proapar.

I

174 JOSSPH DECLABE8 OOD'b DEALINGS TO 8ABBACTNTE. [cH. XT.

JoMphoomMto

and ah* Mki
htm how
XTalaoh hM ^•d.

Il« iniwtn thai*

M ttM klngt of
tha earth wUl
not know Oo^

Ha will haTO
them slaiiit
and their landa
ffiren to
atrangeria

that they maj
know Him at
their Lord.

And that to the Prikke of deth thorwgh Tholome
He Bcholde hen hrowht/ — thus seyde he —
* And jif it scholde Ony lengere laste
Thafine thre dayes & thre Nyhtes weren paste.' 24

And this was the Cawse Certeinle
That sche for losep^e sente, I telle it the.
Thanne losep/^e to-Fore hire Gan gon.
And with him his sone Byht Anon ; 28

Thanne sche him Axed there In haste,
'* Whether the lome wit/i hire lord were paste ;
And how he spedde In the hataille/'
Hire forto telle sche preyde not Faille. 32

Thanne to Sarracinte spak losep/ie Certeinle
'* Thus sente the to seine the kyng Of Cristene (he I^re,)
That Of Alle thing knoweth the hegynne7?g,
And demen schal Atte laste Endyng, 36

And Of Al this world Saviour Is he
Sekerly, As I telle it the.
And For As Mochel as these Erthly kynges
Ne welen non knowen In here werkynges, 40

Nethir Resceyven My Creaunce,
I schal hem sende ful hard chaunse ;
For Into hataille I wele hem do,
And there here Enemyes scholen hem slo ; 44

And here londis ^even wile I
In-to the hondes of strawngeris sothfastly.
For I wele that they knowen Me
As fore here Souereyn lord god In Al d[eg]ie,^ 48

Nethir Of non Othir kyng to holde,
But Only Of Me, In Manye Folde ;
For hothe to prowde and Ek to Felowns,
I schal hem sende Manie distrucciouns ; 52

Thus he my Spyrit I schal hem sende,
And In this degre I wele hem schende ;

> MS.dra.

CH. XV.] SARRAOTNTE ASKS JOSEPH TO PRAT FOR EVALAOH.

176

And therfore the Grete I wyle down take ;

And !>• Fable & powrc, lordis wil I Make ; 66

More-Over, kynges flesch ^oven sclial "be

To Fowles Of Eaveyne, that Abowten fle

Forto Find en Sum Careyne :

Thus schal it ben In Certeine. 60

And the bodyes that Of pore Men scolon be

Worthily I-byried In Echo degre ;

For the Eyhte weyes alle they knowe.

And my Comandementis they welen bowe 64

Wit good herte And good Entenciowne,

This welen they Resceyven with good devociown."

And whanne loaephe this tale hadde told,
Sarracinte gan to wepen Mani-fold, 68

And preyde bothe losepAa & his sone,
For Eualach to here god to bydden som bone,
* That Eualach with worachepe Myhte retomen Ajen,
That sche with hire Eyen it Myhte Ones Sen, 72

And forto be turned to the Byhtful Creaunce,
That the god Of Crystene wolde senden him swich

chau;2se.'
" And I hope thanne Tornen wold he,
Aftir, A good Man for Euere to be." 76

Thanne losephes Ganne hire Answere,
' How there-Offen the Certeyn knew sche there ; '
And sche Answerid losephes Agein :
" Of that Surawnce Am I, In Certein." 80

** How there-offen, dame, Sure Mihtest thow be,
WLinne thou beleves on ymages of ston & tre ;
For they mowe;^ nethir meven ne stonde,
JN'e hem to helper haven thei nethir leg ne honde, . 84
And In lesu Crist he wil not beleve, —
How Myhtest thow thanne this preve —
That is lord Of AUe Cristiente,
As I schal here-After dedaren to the." 88

The weak ud
poor, God wUl
makaLorda,

and bury them
wortkilj.

bec&nae thay
obey His ooin«
mandmenta.

Qaeen Sameynto
weepa, and bega
Joseph to pray
toGod toaare
Deaf 8, back,
col. 1]
ETslach,

and make him
torn to the belief

whldi ihe holde.
Joaephee aska
her bow that
can be, as she
belleree In Idola.

176

8ABBA0TNTB BXPLAINS HOW SHE IS A CHBI8TIAN. [CH. XV.

JoMpllMtent

Saineynteth*
GhrlrtUm bdiet

Sbeordmall
her attendantt
ODt, tells
JoMphat til
the doctrine of
the Txinlty,

•nd •sptalns
that her mothw
was a Christian,

•ad waa DoflbMa,
ofOrbaxy.

Thanne Axede sche him E jht Anon
The pointed Of Ciistendom forio Ondon.
Thanne losephes began Anon forto telle
The Creavnse of y Trenite, and ^ereof gan spelle ; 92
And the qweene l>ehel[de] him faste,
And Axede * what he hyhte ' Atte laste.
Thanne Answerid he * that he Cristened was
And I-Clepid " losephee " In that phis ; 96

And thoie-Offen Is there non Man
That Me that Name bereven kan.'

Thanne Comanded the qweene Anon
Alle hiie Owne Meyne from hire to gon« 10(^

And Anon Alle the poyntes Of the Trenite
To losephes sche gan to declaren Oerteinle,
So that there was non Clerk levynge
That there>Inne scholde han schewed more konnenge ;
Bo ferforth that losephes MeT-veillen began 105

That so moche wit myht ben In womman,
And where sche hadde this konnenge Cawht,
Oper what Maner Of Man that it here tawht. 108

Thanne Answered this Qweene Agein,
" Ful ten jer My Modir In Certein
Fulliche & hoi was In this CreauTice, —
As I the telle losephes — wtt^Owten variannce, 112
And jit My Fadir there-oflfen Neuere wiste,
Ne non Of his lyne, thow Mihtest wel Tryste,
Sanfe Onliche Mine Owne Modir and I ;
I Sey the losephes ful Certeinly, 116

My Modir, duchesse Of Orbery was,
As In thike tyme happed be Cas,
Whiche that good womman was, & trewe.
And therto worschepful & Of good thewe ; 120

My Fadyr was Crwel and dispetows.
And therto Angry & Eiht Malicious ;
And So it behappede with-Owtew Mo,
That Ouer hens Sevene & twenti winter Ago, 124

OH. ZY.] BARRACTNTB RELATES HEB MOTHER'S CONVERSION. 177

That In Owre Contre An holy man there was

In An Ermytage, As god ^af him gras,

That Moche dide for goddis Sake,

And God for him Manie Merveilles gan Make, 128

And his Name ' Salustine ' Gonne they Calle ;

In him Manie vertwes gonne there faUe.

So thanne My Modir hadde An Infirmite —

Certeinly losephes as I telle the — 132

That theke tyme xix Monthes hadde holde,

Sche was In sorwe and wo Manie-Folde,

That hire Colowr and blood was Al ago,

So Ful sche was Of peyne and wo, 136

And Alle hire Memhres weren wasted Eke,

And ^6rto sche was ful feble & syke.

So herde sche tellen Of this good Man,
What Marveilles that God wrowht In him than, 140
And thowhte with him sche wolde Gon speke,^
And somwhat Of hire herte to him breke.
To tellen him Of hire Infirmite,

3if Ony Socour there-offen Mihte be ; 144

For sonnere sche hopede to ben ded
Thanne to live to tomen In that sted.

Whanne fat tofore this good man sche gan to gon,
Down On hire knees sche Fyl Anon, 148

And there down sche fil to his feet.
And preide him Of Socour Also skeet.
Tho this good Man On here there loked faste,
And Seide, " 0 womman, womman, Atte laste
Wherto Of helpe Axest thow Me,
That hast Swich An Infirmyte ?
Gertes thou Art," quod this good Man,
''Dedlich, and ferto Sinful womman ; 156

And I dedlich Am Also,
And therto Sinful wit^Owten Mo ;

In Orbery wm a
holjlMrmlt,

tuuned
SidiuttiM,

and to him,

Sam^nU'a

mothw.

who waa
bloodlMa,

and had waated
liinba,

n«olrad to go

for help of her
dlaeaaa.

Bha gOM to him.

and praj* ^^^
for sttocuur.

152 Ha tells her

ha is mortal and
alnfUl ;

ORAAL.

* MS. spkeke.
12

178 SALUSTIKS PB0MI8ES SARRACTNTE's MOTHER HER CURE. [CH. XV.

Christ alone
mv«s thOM who
love hlOL

SeiTMTnte'a
mother begt the
hennit to pn^
ffof herj

n So MS» for

'aeidt/j

ehe win give
him silver aud
gold.

He wuite on) j
Bepenuuioe and
BeUeC

She promlaes
anything Ibr the
curs of her

For seker I non power ne have,
Nethir Man ne womman forto save,
But Onliche it is Crist & god Above
That hem doth Save that hun welen love.'*

Thanne Answerid my modir ** Certeinle,
Good sire, so preye thy lord for me
That he wolde taken Me to his grace.
And helthe to sonde me In this place."
Thus thanne scheide^ sche in alle thing
To this goode man ful sore weping,
** For I hope thi God ne wile not weme y
Ony thing that thow Axest Certeinle."
'^ Dame, til to Morwe this May not be,
Certeinli I telle it the."
*^ Sire, thanne schal I Comen Agein,
And tresowr I-nowh to bringen Certeiny
^if that he me now helpen wolde,
Tresowr I-nowh Of Siluer Ss Golde."
Thanne answerid this good man tho :
" Of thin Tresowr wile he non, Lo,
But Only Of trewe herte Bepentance,
And stedfast beleve & ful CreauTtce."

And tho spak sche with good semblawnt
To him that was goddis seriawnt,
" What thing On Erthe thow bidde me do,
I schal it fulfille for peyne Other wo,
And he wele me helpen Of thys Maledye
That doth me now so gret Anoye."
Thanne Answerid this goodman agein,
'< And thow wilt fulliche beleven Certein
In lesu Crist, that verray lord,
I schal behoten the hele at On word j
Er that thow Owt of this plase wende,
Thow schalt ben helid with-Owten Ende."

Thanne to his Feet sche knelid A-down,

160

164

168

172

176

180

184

188

192

CH. XV.] BARRACTNTE*8 MOTHER BEUEVES, AND IS CURED. 179

And hem kiste with good deyociown,

" Sire ! ^if that hele he wel me sende,

On him wile I heleven wit/t-Owten Ende." 196

Thanne seide to hire this good Man,

*^ 3if stedfastli wilt ])ou beleve," qtiod he f^an,

" Anon Eiht heljd schalt thow he

Of thin Maladie Gerteinle ; 200

For hele Ib there non so sone

As In god beleve, hos wil it done."

ThaDne seide my modir Anon Ageyn,

" Sire ! I beleve it folly In Certein,

That Onliche verray God Is he

That me schal helpen Of mjn Infinnite."

And Anon this Groode Man took
In his hond Anon A litel book, 208

And there-vppon ful faste gan Kede
[Al so faste as he cowde spede,]
In A Comer al be him Selve ;
There preide he God and thapostelis twelve,
' That God wolde sende his Mercy & Grase
To that Synful womman In that plase.
And to keveren hero Of that Maladye
That xviij ^er Contenwelye 216

Here hadde holdeii In that degre,
Goode lord, fat koverid myhte sche now be.'

And whanne his preyere thus hadde he do,
Anon to My Modir he Cam sone tho, 220

Thus Seyenge to hire, " Aryse vp here
Also hoi As Evere thow Er were,
In the Name of the Fadir, Sone, & holigost,
Wiche that Is Of Myhtes Evere Most ! " 224

Thanne felte My Moder there Anon,
That As hoi sche was In flesch and bon
As Evere Ony tyme sche was before,
8ethen sche was Of hire Modir I-bore ; 228

Samqmte*!
mother IcIsm* the
hermit'e bet^

204 Mid decluee her
belief In the God
who wUl heel her.

DeefS, eoL IJ

212 The Hennit prajre
to God,

bide Suncjmte'e
mother lie*
wholes

In the name of
the Trinity,

and she at onoe
is cored.

180

8ARRACTNTE6 MOTHER IS BAPTIZED.

[CH. XT.

moUnr eonfiMM
God's might.

Bh6*s ipent orer
15.000 bMuU on
dooton.

bat only God has
oimdhor.

The Honnit
SalQstioo

Bho bring!
Samqrnto to
tho Hermit
SalmtiMf

And the strengthe Of hire Membres Anon
Sche hadde A3en there tho Everichon.

Anon whanne sche felte this riht tho.
That helthe A3en was Comen hire to, 232

" Now May I sen," sche seide, " verraillj,
That thi lord Is Strong & ful Myhti
That me hath heljd of My gret Maladye.
For it hath me Cost Certeinlye ' 236

More thanne xy thowsend besaunz,
This Maladie wit-Owten yariaunz,
& jit neuere be non Of hem hele myhte I have ;
But ))ou, blessed lord, now dost me Save.'' 240

Thanne seide to hire this Good man Anon,
" Baptesme to Eesceiuen er 30 hens now gon."
And thanne sche Axede him ful sone,
* What that baptesme Mihte done.' 244

And [he] hire Answered Sone Agein,
" It Is thyn hoi Savacioun In Certein."
Thanne Answerid sche with good wille,
'^ I wile it Eesceyven bothe Mekly & stille." 248

Thanne the Goode Man hire Cristened Anon there
In his Name that was Of Most powere,
Whiche Is Fadir, and sone. And holy gost,
On God and thie persones, Of myhtes Most ; 252

And thus My Modyr there he Cristened Anon.

Thanne Owt Of the Chambre sche com gon
There As I Abod with-Owten the dore.
And Al Owre Meyne In the Flore ; 256

80 my Modir took me be the hond,
And wtt^ hire to gon I myhte not withstond,
And thus me to-fom the good man browhte,
That I ne wiste what I seyn Mowhte ; 260

" My swete dowghter, Com now hider to Me,
Now koverid I am Of Myn Infirmite ;
]}erfore, swete dowhter, I wolde that ]>ou wost don
As I schai the here Comaunden Anon." 264

OH. zv.] sarragtntb's mother tries to oonvert hbr.

181

Thanne Answerid I with herte qwakynge,

" Modir, I wele don Alle 30WTe biddinge ; "

So that I hadde gret wondir tho

What my Modir wolde with me do. 268

" Paire swete dowghter, I woldc that 30

Wolde woTSchepen him that mjn Iniirmite

Me hoi hath Mad, and taken clene Away ;

So, swete dowghter, so worschepe fat man |>ts day/'

And I wende sche hadde me^it that Old Man, 273

And therfore I no dorste not Sekerly than;

And My Modir Axede me " wherfore 1 "

" For Certein he hath A long herd, & An hore ; 276

And Euere whanne I lokede vppon his herd,

Sekir, Modir, I scholde ben Aferd."

Thanne Anon lowgh this good Old Man
For that I Seyde Of him than, 280

" I^ay, faire dowgjiter, it Nam not I
That thi Modir Speketh Of trewely ;
But Ano]>er it Is, that is ^ ful Of Bewte
And Of Alle goodnesse In £che degre." 284

And I axed him, " where that he was,
3if I myht Owht sen him In this plas ;
And, 3if he fairer^ thanne my hiofer be.
Him I wele loven In Alle degre ; 288

For my brothir, so fair he Is,
That of bewte hath he now pere I-wis."

And whanne to him thus hadde I told.
To speken to Me he was ful bold : 292

" With-Inne A litel while here schalt fou Se
Him Of whom J>at I speke to the,
Whiche is Fairere thanne thi brothir Is
In Alle degres, and In More bHs 296

Oj>er thanne thy brothir Evere thow sye,
Owther Euere thow schalt with thin Eye.**

•ndMktherto
worship Him who
hM cored her
mother.

Sarruynto
Mjiibo
etnt wonhip
the Hermit
bec&ueeofhie
beard;
CIeaf«,eol.tl

hotifOodie
fidrer than her
brother, then
shell love Him.

MS that if that is.

182

SABBACrKTS SEES CHRIST, AND Ifi BAPTIZED. [oH. XV.

6«rrarvnt«
perreive« A
woDderAil
elMuneMand

and amidst thtm
the fidTMt ptnoo
that aver «ja

nrlth a nd Croat
la hit hand.

She falla to
Uia ground.

The Hermit lUU
her «]».

She agrees to
rerelve thb Man's
belief, and
the Hermit
rhrletent her.

And Auon As this word hadde he Seid,

A wondir Clerte tofom me was leyd 800

Sodeynly there In that Chapel ;

Many wondirful swetnesse Aforn me fyl,

And the hows So ful there-Offen was,

And therto swich delicasie In that plas. 304

Amyddis ]>at liht & swetnesse fer gan forth gon
The fairest Creature Of flesch & bon,
The Clerest and the fairest pe)*sone
That Evere Ony erthly Eye myhte loken yppone. 308
This Man gan holden In his Byht hond
The Signe Of A red Cross, I yndirstondi
And bothe his Eyen Me thowhte ferden there
Also Cleer brennenge As Ony Fere. ^ 312

And thus A whille Stood he there ;
Where-Oflfen I was Abasched wel sore,
Of the wondns that I On him gan beholde ;
Wherfore myn herte wax wondir Colde, 316

For On him nor* More thanne Mihte I loke,
So that for drede myn herte qwoke,
But to the Erthe I iil plat Adown
As thowh I hadde ben In A swon; 320

Thanne the Ermyt took me be )>* honde,
And Made roe vp be him stonde ;
Of whocbc Sihte hadde I gret Mcrvcilleng ;
And saiif my Modir & thermit Saw I now thing. 324

Thanne this good man Seide to Me,
" Now, my fnire dowhter, how thinketh the ? "
And thanne I Answerid so Ageyn,
" This Mannos Creauwce I wele resco.yven fayn." 328
And Anon there he Cristenede Me
In the hole * Name Of the Trenite ;
So fat aftir he told vs, but not be-forn,
* How pat lesus Crist was Coneeyved & born 332

' Et il roe baptiaa mnintonant el non de la aainte trinite. — A.

CH. XV.] 8ARRACYNTB AND HER MOTHER RECEIVE THE SACRAMENT. 183

Of An holy virgine, Modir & Maide,

As be Old tyme the prophetis saide ;

And how Jat On ]>• Cros he gan to dye,

Man To beien from endles felonye ; 336

And how ]>* thridde day he Koa Ageyne,

And deliue?^d his fiendis from Endeles peyne ;

Thanne Aitir, with the xlthe day,

Streyht to hevene he wente his way ;

And the xj day Aftir, with-Owten fantem,

He sente to his dissiples, Into lenisalem^

His holy gost, Anon there Eyht,

In liknesse of flawmes of fir so briht ;

& told hem Also how that they scholde

His hodi sacren to ^ong and Olde,

As he hem tawhte At his sene,

The[r] Alle his apostelis weren Clone 348

The Kiht to-fore he sufti^de passiown ;'

And thus tolde vs thermyt, Al & som.

Thanne whanne this to vs hadde he told,
To that Awter he wente ful bold,
And there made he }at holy Sacrament
With hy deyocioun and good Entent ;
And to my Modir there it tho took,
And sche it Eesceyvede, & not forsook.
Thanne After to me he Cam Anon,
And In My Mowth he wold han it don ;
Thanne thus to me he gan to seyn :
* That I scholde beleven Certein,
That theke same body it was
The wheche In the virgine took his plas.'
Wher0 thaC thanne I taried Anon Ryht^
That to beleven hadde I non Myht ; 364

So thanne thowhte me Anon In My siht.
That it was theke Selve Faire wyht
"Wheche In the Chapel I sawgh to-fore,
That I was Offen Abascht ful sore. 368

The Hermit telli
Sarracynte and
her mother about
Chzlat's death.

rem I re< lluii^

340 uoeneloD,

■ad gift of the
Ho^ Qhoet to
344 blaapoetlee,

Peaf9,bM^

eoLl]

andehargeto

oelehratethe

Saomment.

352 The Hennlt then
makeethe
Saeramentk

giTeeitto
BarracjnU'e
35o mother,

and then to

360 tdlingherto
heliere It ie
Ghriet's bo4]r.

She thinks It's
the Ikir Man
ehe saw in the
ChapeL

184 SAURACYNTB AND HER MOTHSR COME HOME TO ORBEBT. [CH. ZV.

Samrynte and
ho-moUMr

promiat not to
norifiottoldoli^

bat to beltora
on God.

When they reach
Orbery, tlieir
home, they hear
a wild Beaat
haa broken oa^

aofleneUiat

he eata aheep,
children, men,
andhoreee.

Thanne seide I to him Anon there,

" Sire, I beleve As thow seidest Ere."

So that from him we departed Anon,

Homwaid In Ourc weye forto gon. 372

Thanne charged he vs In Alle wise,

* That we echolde don non More S[a]crifise : *
" To J>*se fals ymagea of tre ne ston.

Be no weye Sacrifise Make je non." 376

And tha77ne we Answerid him Ageyn,

* That On God wolde we beleven Certeyn,
And Comfort and loye Of him to have,

And that At Owre Endeng he wele vs save.' 380

In this Maner Ferst Of lesn Cnstes lawe
ThuB lemed we, & there-Offen weren fawe.

And whanne that we weren comen to Orbery,
Thanne herden we A wondir Noise, & a gret Cry, 384
Of A savage wilde beste
That was broken Owt of a foreste ;
And Al the Contre it gan to chase.
It Forto distroyen In sora plase ; 388

For it was so dyvers A beste of kynde.
That pere hadde non Man wit ne Mynde
To tellen what thike beste was

That they Chaced In theke plas ; 392

For that beste was so dispetous.
So feers And so Angwischous,
That he distroiede theke Contre,
An Ete schepe & Children In Eche degre ; 396

Men & hors he gan to distroye,
And to wommen witA Childe he dyde gret Anoye.

The same tyme |)at we from yis good man gonne gon,
Theke tyme fel this Chawnce Anon, 400

That the peple Gomien to gaderen faste.
And my brothir In that pros forth paste, —

and that
Sarracynte'a fidr

brother haa goM That 80 fair and SO hardy he was, —
"^ With hem he forth wente In that plas.

404

CH. zv.l sarraotnte's brothjbb is lost in a bbast-fight.

185

And A good hors there he be-strod,

And wel Armed he was, & non lengere Abod, —

As behoved A 3ong knyht Forto were,

For A litel to-fore knyht was he mad pere^ — 408

For there dorste non Man that beste Chase, .

But he were Armed In that plase ;

For the beste was wondirful In that stede,

For thie homes hadde [he] In his hede,

That So trenchaont An scharpd were,

Scharpcre than swerd, knyf, Oper spere,—

For they wolden perschen bothe Ime & steel

Thow it wore wrowht neuere so wel, — 416

Wheche beste mi brother gan to chase

Afom Alle the men ))at weren In that plase,

So that In tweyne plases he it smot

Wtt^ A scharpa swerd that wel bot ; 420

And fowre hors he Slowgh yndir hym,

The beste, it was so spetous & grym.

And whanne this beste Chased was So sore,

To the Forest he wente Alle hem before.

As it was Sekerely thus Me told, —

For I was not there it to behold, —

And my brothir Aftir him prekede faste.

To the Forest he Entrede atte laste : 428

And sethen that to theke Foi*e8t he wente.

And Folewede the beste there presente,

Sethen was there Neuere Man ne womman

That Of him Ony tydinges tellen kan, 432

Ke ^euere Sethen In-to this day

We ne herde?) neu^re Of him tydinges In fay.

Thanne seide my Modir Anon to Me,
" Behold, dowhter, here now and se 436

How that y Ermyt, this holy Man,
That schal befallen, tellen he Can."
So that I held him with Crist preve,
For that he Seide I scholde neu^re se 440

wtUaniMd,

lo fight this
vondwftil thTM-
412 bonMdB«Mk.

rieiii 9, iMU'k,
eol.S]

He •mlt08 the
Beset In two
pliioie.

424 Mthatltfleee
to the ftmet.

whither he
panneelt.

And he It never
heerdofegain.

Sarracjnte
thinks the
Hermit privy
withChrietp

186 BARRACTNTfl'S MOTHER FRBPARES FOR THE BACRAMBNT. [OH. XV.

u he told Imt tba
■hoald iMTtr Mt
htrbrollMr
■gain.

latbtjojoriliilr
Chriatiftnlty
SftmofBtoind
htr motlMr fteftt
htr bratlMr't

Barnwjnte'i
motlM r ord*ra
All htr pMpl«
oat of htr room.

And bids ber
diuigbtor go to
htr jewel atorat,
«nd bring her »
White Box tnd »
Riiiff.

She pn^^
woepi, siffhit
and tbampe ber
breast.

My brothir, as it fil be CaB,

So fair as him as in the Chapel was ;

And theifoie ful soth seide he^

For aftir that day I mihte him neutfre ae. 444

And we so with Cristes passioun enspiied were,

That Al his deth foigoten we there,

For the grete loye, And Oure Creawnce

That we hadde Eesceyyed to his plesauitoe ; 448

Whiche Creaunce my Modir kepte M wel»

And Neoere aspied was non del

Into the day and tyme Of hire deth.

That sche scholde dyen, & ^even upe the breth. 452

Thanne Comaunded sche there Ryht Anon
That Alle the peple Owt Of ]>* chambre schold gon,
Sauf Onliche Alone sche and I ;
This was hire Comandement trewly. 456

And wha/tne they weren al Owte I-gon,
Sche bad me Schette the dore Anon ;
And whanne to hire that I was Comen Agein,
Thanne seide sche to me In Certein, 460

* That owt Of this world that Kyht scholde sche go ; *
Thus sche me tolde with-Owten Mo,
<* Now, faire dowhter, go ^e now Into tho wones
There As lyn Alle myn precious stones, 464

And Also A whit Booyst and A Byng,
And that loke ^e bringen me Ou^ alle thyng."
Whanne that this to hire I hadde I-browht,
Thanne vp6 sche hixe dresaid As sche Mowht, 468

And On hire knees sche dressid hire down
To-fom hire bed In Orisown,
And there gan sche to wepen ful sore,
In Sighenges, and bunching On brest wel more.^ 472
And whanne In this Contenaunce longe hadde sche bo,
Aftir the boist Anon sche Axede Of Me ;

Et batoit son pis de son poing, mult angoiflaeiiBement. — A.

CH. XV.] SABBAOYNTIS'S U0THBR*8 DEATfl-BlSD PROFESSION.

187

Thanne Axede sche water to hire hond,

Hem to waschen. As I Cowde vndirBtondo. 476

And whanne hire hondis I-waschen were,

The boist Anon sche Opened there ;

Owt of that boist there Isswed AnoTi

Owre holy Saviour hothe In flesch and bon, 480

Tn forme Of bred there In hire Syht> —

For 80 was the wil Of god Almyht, —

And with Manie teres and sore sighenge

There Besceived sche that holy thinge. 484

And whanne that thus hadde sche doon,

Thanne seide sche to Me Anon,

" Now that I have Besceiyed my savio?ir,

I am sekir From Alle deseises & dolour — 488

From the devel and Alle My Fon, —

And I am Seker to hevene to gon,

For I have Besceived of Alle Siknesse |>* boote.

And helthe of alle Angwicsch, bo^* Crop & Boote. 492

Lo ! dowhter, this boist kepen thow schal

In A ful preve plase with-al,

And tliat It Come In non Mannes bond

But In thin, I do the to vndirstond. 496

For this that I have Besceyved here,

Is * Oure Saviour here & elles- where ;

For On God In thre persones it is,

And thre persones In On God I-wis ; 600

And loke ^e that this 30 kepeu riht wel,

And loke ]>at ^e wraththen pat God neucre A del ;

Loke that je taken this holy In Bomembraunse,

And thinketh Algato vppon this Chau»se ; 504

Thenke je how he Cam Into this word,

And In Mannes kende here dweld be his owne Acord,

And alle thing sufirede as dyde Man,

Sauf Only Of synne neuei'e knewe he )>an, 508

Ont of h«r White
BozoonoMtlM

D6i^l0.ool. 1]
StTioor in fbnn
of bread.

Samcgrnto's
mothtrnotivM
It, tiM SacnuiMnt,

Mjiiha't
■are to go to

cluirirMk«r
daughter to Iceep
the Box eoeretlx*

and take Chiist'e
body in re-
membrance

of his enflbriiiffs.

MS lis.

188

BABRACTNTS'B mother's dying OHAROB to ebb. [cH. XV.

Barnwjnto's
mochtr Uds htr

hATtChrlittvtiy
di^lahtr

Miha hwnair

And wlita sh«
iadMd,

B«rraeynto is to
goand t«U th*
Hermit,
Salattine.

aiid mind to
g«t Chrlit from
hUn,

Wher&offen that lie was Ever0 klene,

& nenere ))erwith spottid^ with-Owten wene.

Loke that 30 have Eaere this In Mynde,

How good that lord was, & how kjnde, 512

That for ys he sufi&ede ded,

Mannes sowle to beyen from y qwed ;

And loke that Al this In Memorie ^e haue

In jowra herte, And je wil be save, 516

And that Every day In ^owre Compeni he be.

Now, goode swete dowhter, so thinketh On me !

For, sethen that I Crestened was,

Everiday I him worschepid In this plas, 520

& Euery day in my Compenie mi saviour I hadde,

Therwhilles was I of non man Adradde |

But, swete dowhter, this wot I wel,

That here-Offen knew ge nevere A del ; 524

For I it kepte In previte, —

The Cawse why I schol telle ]>•, —

For )if thow haddest deid In this world er I,

Thow schost it han Eesceyved trewly ; 528

But sethen I deien schal to-Fom the,

I have it Hesceyved, As thow myht se.

And therfore, Anon As I am ded,

To the holy man ))ou go, Into that sted 532

Where we resceyved Ourc holy Creaunce,

And telleth him Of Al this chavnce.

And preieth that holy blessid Man,

My sowle In Comendacion to haven than, 536

That Only Goddis Seriawnt Is,

For me to preyen to the kyng [of] blis.

And, swete dowhter, thow to him go,

And for Ony thing that thow this do, 540

Loke that je taken Of him ^ouxe saviour

That 30W schal saven In Even stour.

So that Owt Of this world neuere je passe

But 30 him han to-fom jo^vre fase, 544

CH. XV.]

sarractnte's mother's dying charge to her.

1S9

552

556

560

To Besceiuen 3our6 euere-lasting savement ;
For I wofc wel fat he wele, w*t/i good Eiitent,
30W it taken In this degre,
And 3e it him Axen for Charite.

" And whanne that to ^ow he hath it take,
Loke 30 that An Onest place periore 30 make,
30wre Saviour to kepen Inne deyntele,
In A worschepful place & A preve,
So that from Alle leveng Creature
je mown it kepe/i hothe saof & sure ;
And this white hoist take with the, —
For he him self 3af it to Me, —
And Into this hoist thanne putteth Anon
Swich thing as he wele there-Inne don.
And whanne 3e haven it In 3owre keping,
Loketh that Everi day, Ouer Alle thing,
That to this holy Boyst pat ^e go,
And 3oure devocions doth therto
WitJi weping & with sore syghenge,
With bonching On brest, and Eepentinge
Of alle the sinnes that 3e hauen I-do,
With high Contricionn, dowhter, £uere-Mo ;
And he wolde sende 30W swich grace & powere,
Neucre Oper God to worschepen here,
But Only him that Is 3owre saviour,
Wheche schal 30W kepen In Every stowr."

Lo, Sire, thus My Modir tawhte tho Me
How I scholde me goverue in eche degre,
lik as this storie doth me now telle,
And as 3e me heren to 30W now spelle :
Swich thing as to my sowle profitable scholde be,
Alle sweche Manere thinges my Moder told me ;
And alle thing pdt scholde don me Noysaunce,
Hem scholde I flen for Ony Chawfice.

And whanne these wordis were?) spoken Echon,
Sche bad me Opene the chambre dore Anon ; 580

and M raetfv*

•▼•rUtttng

Mlvmtian,

548 Diif 10,001. q

■nd pot Chritt
in hMT White Box,

and dallj do bar
d«f otioat to it
withwoeping

564

■ad eonuitlon.

568

572

Thus did Sarra-
cynteTimothar
toll htr bow to
guide liarMir.

576

190 CHRIST APP£.iBS TO SARBAOYNTE*B MOTHER. 8HB DIES. [CH. ZV.

Tliaiine Comen In the gentil wommen Alle,
Ab to A dwchesse gan to befalle ;
StfTMjnu And thanne Kowned ache In Myn Ere,

And Axed me, *' whom I eawgh there, 584

Abowtes hire bed Ony Man stondynge ; "
Where-Offen I Merveylled Ouer alle thinge.

Hirirt Thanne saw I there the same Man

hold hw raoChtr*!

baud. That to-fom tyme In the Chapel saw I than ; 588

And my Modir he held be the bond,

And to-fom hire bed there gan he stond.

And whanne the same I sawh there

That the Ermyt In f* Chapel schewed me Ere, 592

Neuere so sore abasched I was

As I was tho In that same plas.

And thanne my Modir Axed me tho,

" What that I sawh to-Fom me go % '* 596

Thanne I hire tolde it was Owre Saviour ;

And sche him dide f ul gret honour :
H«r mochtr More-Ouer sche seide, ** blessid mot he be

blmaai Christ,

That Into this Erthe wil discende to me ; 600

Now wot I wel that I schal go
With him to blisse for Eu^re Mo.
[iMf io,bMk, Kow, goode Bwete dowghter, Er that I go,

ool. Ij

ubm h«r, Kysseth me er that we now departen Atwo, 604

For to god I schal Comaundon )ow here ;

And therfore, dowhter, loke fat In Alle Maners
bida h«rdoM That JO don lik As I have ;ow tawht,
h«r, And pleynly that je for^eten it nowht ; 608

For this lord witA him wile leden Me

Into A plase pat is ful Of prosperite,

And ^erto ful of loye and delicasie."

Thus told me my Modir Sekerlye ; 612

And with this word, Sire, Certeinly
And Uim diw. Departid the Sperit Owt Of hiw body.

& anon I fulfilled hire Comaufsdement,
J^yjll; And to that holy man I wente wtt^ good entent ; 616

OH. XV.] SABRAC7NTB VISITS THE HERMIT SALUSTINE AGAIN. 191

There he me tho took My saviour Anon Eiht,

My God, my Lord, & ^erio man most Of Mihi

And whanne he to me hadde longe I-spoke,

And iirel of this world to me his herte I-broke, 620

Thanne schewed he me y knoweng of y trenite.

And how ^at In this world I schold Gk)veme Me,

& Comaunded me to Fadir & Sone <& holigost,

Whiche that Is lord Of Mihtes Most, 624

And preide me that I scholde Eetournen tho

Into the plase A3en that I Cam ito ;

For non lengere ne speken to Me he Myhte,

So feble he was tho as to My Syhte. 628

And whanne Owt Of his Ermytage I was gon,
A wondirful swete Noise thanne herde I Anon,
And my white boyst I held In Myn hond :
To here» this Noise fnl stiUe gan I stond ; 632

And Me thowghte tho As In My Syht
In that song, thte On that Chapel gonnen A-liht.
And whanne from that Chapel that I was gon
The spase of half A myle, thanne Mette I Anon 636
A man that was Clothed In a Eobe Of blak,
That was bothe Megre and pale wttA-Owten lak ;
Fol whit and long was his herd and her —
Of the man that I tho Mette thanne ther, — 640

& swich Abit me thowhte he hadde
As the man In Chapel was In Cladde, —
So sone was tomed his Clothing
That me Merveilled In AMe thing ; — 644

And so fjEtste and Sore tho gan he to gon
That he was Al On Swot ^ere Anon.
And Anon As he loked On Me
He wepte fol sore wtt^- gret pite, 648

And thus he seide Anon to Me thore,
" A I Cristene womman, thow hastest Sore ;
For ^u wer6 neoere so sone past from ^at good Maxk,
That his Sperit Owt Of his body wente than.** 652

Hermit SalvstiiM,
noeivn Christ
from him (in h«r
White Box),

with eomiMl how
to rnlt h«rMl^

■ad Imtm him
▼•lyfbohlo.

She haw* •
•w«et noiao,

and Mat Thrao
Baings alight la
tha Harmlt'a
GhapaL

KalfamOa
on, m man
inhlaekmaata
bar.

and tallt bar
tliat Saloatina la

192

8ARRACTNTB FINDS SALU8TIKB DEAD.

[CH. XV.

TIm Mia in

BiMktelli
BvTMTnto

1m it MBt to
b«rtuth«
Btij OhMt,

CiriO,bk,eol. t]

and that UiTM
■ngtUbora

SalOttilM'l MNll

toOod.

Bheandtha
Mao go back
to BaloitliM'i
bennltage.

And wh&xme that CriBtene he gan me to Calle,
Anon Of my palfrey I gan down falle,
And Mekliche I azede him Anon,
' Whens he Cam, and whedir he scholde gon.' 656
Thanne he me Answerid there Anon Ryht :
Quod he, '' I Am the Seriawnt Of god Almyht ;
For 30W ful sore I desire now to se.
For bothe to-gederis A^en scholen we — 660

As be the Schewyng Of the holy gost —
Bothe A^en to-gederis gon we Most ;
For Owt of this world his sowle is past ;
Therfore thedyr Go we In hast." 664

And I him Answerid, " Sire, For Certein
From him Eyht now Cam I ful pleyn,
And On lyre Sire lefbe I him there,
But ^t with siknesse he was Charged sore." 668

" How may this ben, fedie dowhter," seide he,
** Whanne thow herdest pat Melodie and Aungeles thre,
How In that Chapel they gonnen to A-lihte,
And boren his Sowle to-fom God AlMihte : " 672

And whanne this he tolde to Me,
Thanne wepte I ful gret plente,
And Cleped I My men ^ to Me Anon,
Wheche pat with me )»*dir gonne gon, — 676

For In hem bothe I trosted ful wel,
For Of myn Norture weren they Eueridel,
And therto On Of hem My Cosin was,
And A Clene Maiden, and ful of Gras, — 680

That so Alle thre we Betomed Agein
A^en to thermitage tho In Certein.
And whanne that thedir we Comen Agein,
The good man was to god past In Certein : 684

' et apielai .ij. de mes sen qui auoeo moi estoient uena, ea
qui ie me fioie mult. Car ie lea auoie aoates peiis enfans, et
nourriB les auoie tant qn'il estoient grant et sage, et bien oon-
uenable a seruir en vne haute maisoD. Cfail doi estoient en ma
compaignie, et vne moie cousine sans plus, qui eetoit puchiele,
et est encbore. — ^A.

CB. XV.] SALUSTINE's QRAVE 18 DUG| AND HIS CORPSE PUT IN IT. 193.

And whanne this goode Man saw Mm pere lye,

Anon he wepte tho ful tendirlie,

And vppon that dede body fil a-down,

And there lay he ful longe In swown. 688

Thus whanne there longe hadde he leyn,
Vp he Eos thanne In Certein,
And behinde the Awter gan he gon,
And thens with him browhte he Anon 692

Sweche man^* Of Instrumens, As thowht me,
That A pyt with, Mad scholde be.
Thanne tofore the Awter gan he stonde ;
A pit fere forto Maken thanne gan he fonde,
That the ded body there-Inne Moot Eeste :
Thus this pyt Made he with the beste.
Whanne this pit thus Ended was,
He lift vp his hand Anon In that plas.
And wit^ the signe of p^ Cros )?* body blessed he,
Er Into the pit It pvt schold be.
And pat body took be the hed anon,
Into that pit for to have don, 704

And Me the Feet he bad taken tho.
Into the pyt forto have do ;
" A ! Sire ! " quod I, and to him Seide^
" It were not worthi On him hond pat 1 leide,
For I am Synful womman,
And On this Craft non thing I ne kan,
Kethir to towchen So holy A body ;
Trewly, Sire, I nam not worthy." 712

" A ! leve soster, whi sey je so here 1
A more holy thing wit^ jow ^e here
Thanne Evere was this holy body ;
Therfore taketh the feet ful softly." 716

Thanne wiste I wel that he was an holy man.
That So preyy thinges Cowde tellen than.
Thanne took I the body be the Feet,
A-nd he be the hed, and down it leet 720

QBAAL. 13

The Mirn In
Black WMpi,

696 dlfc %ienv
before Uie
Altar in the
hermitage.

700

tahet Salostine's
oorpee hj the
head, and bide
Sarraejrnta take
Ite fiwt.

708 Atflretibeeaje
■he te too einftil.

bat then takes
the feet, and
lete the eorpee
down

194

SABRA07NTES TWO SERVANTS ABB BAPTIZED.

[CH. XV.

tntoUMgrtTi.

TlM Ifan In BiMk

ClMfll, eol. 1]
nbokMSam-
cxBta'a two

fbrwonhiplnr

ttMd«TlL

Tb»j pnj
him to bapUi*
thwWi

whldi h« do«.

Into that pyt there thanne Anon, —

That holy body, bothe flesch and bon ; —

And thanne with Erthe he keuered it sone.

And seid there OvLer what was to done. 724

Thanne of lesu Crist spak he to Me
In Mani Manors & In dyvers degre.
And Aposed me Of my saviour.
And Of my two seriawntes In pat stotir, 728

Thanne seide [he] to vs ful woudirfully,
[" How dore] je ben so bold, Other So hardy,
Svnche tweyne Seriawntes with 30W to bringe,
That with-Inne this holy plase Scholden haven non

Entringe 1
For je Scholden not Entren here witA-Inne,
That liven In wrechednesse and In synne,
And worschepen the devel bothe day & Nyht,
And him je Serven, that fowle wyht."

There sweche wordis to vs Spak he Anon,
That to his Feet we fillen Echon.
Thanne preyde iche him with riht good wille,
The Kyht Creaunce On hem to folfille,
And Cristendom that they myhten take
In worschepe Of that Goode lordis sake,
For non lengerd that they myhten dwelle
In Servise Of the devel Of helle.
And whanne that he hem herde

732

736

740

pere

744
speken

so.

Eiht Anon water than fette he tho,

And Anon hem Cristeneden wtt^Owten host

In the Name Of the fadir & sone & holi gost ; 748

And he hem preide ful tentifly

That Creaunce to kepe ful worthily.

And that ymages so fals Evere to dispise,

That So fals ben In Al Manere wise. 752

And he me preide hem forto kenne,

That they myhten becomen good Cristen^ Menne ;

CH. XV.] JOSEPHES REBUKES SARRACYNTE FOR WORSHIPING IDOLS. 195

And there to God he Comanded ys,

And we him to swete lesus,

For thens owt of pat plase wolde he iN'eiie^'e go,

But there wolde dwellen for Evere Mo.

And Grod for him wrowhte In that plase
Mani Faire Miracles In litel spase ;
But I ne Cowde weten ^it what was his Name,
Of him that was so good Of fame ;
And ^it God graunted me that faire grase,
That I At his Owne boryeng wase
In the same Maner As I at the tothir was £r,
Riht so [I] beried him bothe Faire & Cler ;
And from that day 3 it hider-to
I have belevid In God jit Euere Mo."

And losephes Abod Alle hire Answers
Evene to the Ende that sche seide \>ere,
And hire Answerid ful sone tho,
" Sey me, dame, how myhtest f ou don so,
A Cristene woman pat thow schost be.
And dost not ]>ere-aftir In non dcgre.
And that thow him worschepest nowht,

That so dere In this world the bowht ] "

•

" Sertes, sire," thanne Answerid sche,
" My lord Is so spetows and so Angre,
That Everi day I moste Awaitew Myn Owr
Whanne I May worschepen my saviowr ;
For, And Ony thing he Mihte Aspie/i with me
That him scholde misplese In Ony degre.
Anon he wolde me Confownde,
And distroyen me Into the harde grownde ;
But now I hope Oure lord wil to him se,
In the Ryht beleve that he mot be ;
And I the preie, that Art Goddis Seriawnt,
Him from bodily deth that he wolde grawnt,
And him hom In worschepe forto bringe,
And [in] his Creawnce to Maken his Endenge ;

756

The Man Id
Black tUjt
in SaloBtina't
bcrmitagt,
working roiradet.

760

764 and Sairaeynte
afterwards burlea
him there.

768

When Joeeph4
haa heard all
Sarracynte'a
atory,

772

he aska her why

she doean't
worship Christ.

776

* Becanae my
husband is so
angry,

780

784

and if I were
to displease him,
he'd kill me.

I pray Qod

788 to keep him

and convert him.

196 JOSEPHES TELLS 8ARRACYNTE EVALACU's ADVENTURES. [CH? XV.

I dfMwl yoar «
wonU that h«
(Evftlach) BhaU
IwthrMdayt
In hit «ii0iiij'i
power.'

JoMphMttUa
BarracynU
how BnUeh
hMtjMd.

& 3if this Ones I Mihte knowe,

Ther6 nis non Creature, ne^er hj ne lowe.

In this world schold me disseise,

So mochel myn herte it scholde plese ;

But Evere, losephes, I drede me sore

Of )?* wordis that ^e han seide before.

That thre dayes & thre iN'yht

His Enemy Of him scholde han Myht."

" That is ful soth,*' quod losephes thanne,

" For there nys non Erthly Manne

That his word ne may with-seye,

Ne his Comandement, In non weye."

" Sire I ^it ^e Mown don this for me,

To preien to that GU>d In Maieste,

That he wolde schewen 30W wttA-Owten faille

How my lord hath sped In his hataille."

So longe that lady preide losephes tho,
That Everi point he told hire to ;
And how he hadde I-sped from day to day,
There Al the sothe he gan here Say.

792

796

800

804

808

CHAPTER XVI.

Josephes tells Samoynte of the White Knight, whom
Evalaoh and Seraphe cannot make out (p. 197). Eralach
goes to see Tholomes (p. 198), and then returns to Sarras,
taking Seraphe with him (p. 196). His Queen receivs
them with great delight, and he at once asks after the
Christians (p. 199). Joseph comes (p. 199) ; he tells
Seraphe that it was Eyalach*s prayer that gave him
his great strength (p. 200). Joseph orders Eva1ach*s
shield to he uncoverd (p. 201). A crucified man is
seen on it (p. 201). A man with a wounded arm is
heald by it; and then the cross vanishes (p. 201).
Seraphe declares that he will turn Christian, and Joseph
baptizes him, and changes his name to NaMcient (p. 202) ;
he is heald at once, and so preaches to Evalach, that he
and the wounded man are baptizd too, and Evalach's
name ohangd to Mordraynei, or *' Slow-of-Belief " (p.
203). The rest of the people are baptizd ; and Joseph
destroys the images^ and converts all Sarraa (p. 204).

CH. xvl] eyalagh and seraphe wonder who the white knioht is. 197

He leaves three of his friends in Sarras in charge of the
Grail-Ark, and goes with the rest to Oroauz (p. 205),
where he turns out of an image the deyil Aselabas, and
makes him explain why he had killd Tholomes (p. 206-7),
Mordraynet orders his people to be baptized or to leave
the country (p. 208) ; some are klUd by the Devil (p. 209),
and a spear-head is driven into Joseph's hip for his neg-
lect, and left there (p. 209-10). The whole land is con-
verted (p. 210), bishops are ordaind (p. 211-12), and the
bodies of the two Hermit-Saints^ Salustes and Ermonies,
procurd for the Churches in Sarras and Orbery (p. 213).

Thus losephes and his Compeniey
In Sarras weren they Sekerlye,
Worthily I-served Of that Qweene
That Sarracinte was Clepid be-dene. 4

And As thus In talkinge they were,
To Sairacinte goode tydinges told he pere,
' That to Orcauz hire lord was Come,
And with him A ful gret throme ; ' 8

And tolde hire of the white knyht,
How graciously he bar him In fyht j
But No man Cowde tellen what he was,
Of Alle hem that weren In that plas ; 12

And }it the king wolde han wist ful fayn
What he hadde ben In Certain,
And Mcrveilled Sore Alle that Nyht,
& lay and thowhte Of that white knyht; 16

And 80 dide Also Sire Seraphe,
For he ne wiste where becomen was he.
And seiden ' that Glad scholden thei neuere be,
Til of him they knewen som Certeinte.' 20

And thus Al that Niht Spoken they two
Of the white knyht, and Of no Mo,
Wheche he lovede Ouer Alle thing,
And be him gat he Conqwering ; 24

And thus leften they not Of talkyng^
Til bothe weren Fallen in sloping,
For Wery of fyhteng Alle they Were,
And Al here Compeni pat with hem was there. 28

7o00ph« and hti
fHend* are w«U
lookt after by
Sarraeynto.

He tells her

oftheWblte

Knight,

abcntwhom
Bvalach and
Seraphe an
both wondering
oatelde Orcaui.

198 £VAL%CU WlHlTii IHOLMUES, AND GOES TO 8ARRAS. [CH. XVI.

EvalAchgoM
liit4> Oratui to
•MTholoiiMii

who fUIi down
Iwforthiiii,

aim! bida hit
kniffhu do M too.

ETmlaeh rldto
towaids Barru,

aiid Mkt 8«nph«
tooomotoo,
and we Joseph.

Senphe agrees.

£rly on the Morwe, whanne ^e k jng Aros,
Streyht Into Orcauz thanne he Gos
For to Bpeken With tholome the kyng,
And to knowen & sen of hia governyi7g.
And whanne Tholome Eualach Say Com,
To his Feet he Fil Anon pere A-down,
For fill giet drede hadde Tholome
That kyng Eualach WolJe don him sle.
Thanne king Eualach took him be the honde,
And made him vp'Hiht forto stonde.
Be Encheson that A kyng he was,
And Most Of worschepe In that plas.
Thanne Anon kyng Tholome
Clepid forth [his] knihtes ^ & his Moyne,
And bad hem down fallen to here lord,
And him Worsehepen with on Acord.

Whanne they hadden thus Alle I-do,
Kyng Eualach from hem gan to go,
An.l toward Sarras gan forto Eyde,
lie & his Meyne be his Side,
And with hym Sire Seraphe he ladde,
That Manye A gret wounde there hadde ;
And thanne seide Sire Seraphe,
* That hom Into his Owne Contre wolde he,
Where that he Scholde more Esed ben
Thanne In Sarras, As he tho Cowde sen.'
Thanne seide king Eualach to him tho,
" Sire, with me to Sarras Scholen 30 go,
And there grete Merveilles scholen ^e se.
Of the moste wondirful Man that may be,
That tolde me how that it schold be-falle
Of my bataille, begynneng and AUe."
And thanne Answerid Sire Seraphe,
' That gladliche theke Man wold he se.'

32

36

40

44

48

52

56

60

* knihteit in the MS.

CH. XVI.] BVALACH BEACHES SABRAS, AND SENDS FOB JOSEPH. 199

So that bothe Siro Seraphe & pe kyng,

To Sanas Comen with Owten lettyng ; 64

And Alle the tothere Meyne,

£che tomede to his Contre,

As the king hem jaf license

Forto gon from his piecense. 68

And whanne the king to Sarras was Gone,
'With giet loy* fe Qweene him Mette Anone,
And Also hire dere brother Sir6 Seraphe,
Of hym gret loye Made tho sche, - 72

And so dide Al that Cite tho,
Gret loye Made Of hem two ;
For they Supposed In Certein,

To that Cite Neaere to have Comen Ageyn. 76

And Anon As the kyng On-horsed was,
After the Cristenmen he Axede In fat plas ;
And the qwene, that wolde not vndirstonde ;
But ^it Anon the kyng Sente his sonde 80

To Seken thanne losepAa & his Meyne,
" For, dame, it Is Al trewe that he tolde me."
And whanne the qweene him herde so sayn,
Thanne In herte was sche bothe loyful & fayn, 84
And sente to seken losepAe anon
Also faste As they myhten gon«
And Anon As Evere the king saw losepe,
Eyht Anon to him he gan forto lepe,^ 88

And seide ' that he was the bests welcomed Man
Thanne Evere was Oni prophete,' he seide than.
And be him he made him to sittin A-down ;
And thanne to Seraphe seide he this Besown, — 92
That Sik yppon A Cowche he lay.
As was hurt vppon the Formere day, —

ETtkdiuid
Seraphe reach
ttamu.

Sarracjnte
tneoto tbem
with Joy.

Evalaoh Mks

mfterthe

ChrUtlanib

and weleomoe
Joeeph.

' The marks of contraction over ihep of lotep and lejf are
the same, and, though this Io$ep* has been printed Toftfiphe
elsewhere in the text — as loseph oocnn in the MS so often —
yet here it is printed Iqtepc on account of the lyme.

200 JUSEPU TKLLH iiKKAPUK Olf THJK GOD WHO HSLPT UIM. [cH. XVI.

JOMphMJ«

that God, not b«.

gsTttlralMli

thcviotoiy.

H« UXk BinplM

thstOod
d«UT«rdhlm
fronn Mm
Knlghto who'd
bronsbt hiin
to the point
ofdMth;

andUili,
Evaladi pngrd
to Him.

" I Bey to 30W now, brother Sire Seraphe,

That be this Man I have Conqwest & my degre, 96

Whiche that I wele that ^e knowe.

And Al my peple vppon A rowe."

" Nay, siie/' quod losep^ thanne, ,

" It Miht neaere Comen be Erthly Manne, 100

But be him In whom thow hast Croaunce ;

He hath the sent Al this good Chaunce."

Thanne Axede Sire Seraphe Anon thanne,

'' What Manere of powere hath that Manne 104

That he is of so gret powste ;

I preie the, Belamy, telle thow me."

Thanne Answerid tho loaepTie Ageyn :
« I Schal y Sein, Seraphe, In Certeyn ; 108

And what he sente the to seyne by me,
I schal the now tellen, Siie Seraphe.
This lord that kyng Of Cristene Is,
Be his Mowth he seide to Me I-wis, 112

That he was the Same Man
That from Serene knyhtos deliuered y than
Whanne atte the prikke of deth pou were I-browht :
Seraphe, thorwh thy Myht wos it Nowht. 116

And ^if thow Supposist that Al thi Chevalrye
Come of thy self, — !N'ay, Certeinlye.
And ^if thow beleve now so,

Al it is Folye pat thow dost do. 120

But knowe thow wel. Sire, for Certeine,
That whanne Eualach the saw In sorwe and peine.
And there he Made his preiere Anon
To pat lord of whom he bar signe vppon, 124

^' That, as his dere bro)?er, the In bataille scholde defende
From peril of deth, & to )»* victorie to sonde."
And whanne losephes thus tho hadde I-seid,
Thanne Seraphe, that vppon A Cowche was leid, 128
Of his wordis ful sore Abasched he was,
Of wheche no man knew tho in that plas.

CII. XVI.] THE MIRACLB WROUGHT BY BVALACH'S SHIELD-CROSS. 201

/:

140

And Seide thanne Anon king Eoalach tho,

" Certes, dere brother, It was Ryht So." 132

Thanne Axede losephes the Signe Anon
Of Y ^'^^ \^^ ^® hadde In his scheld doon ;
And whanne this scheld iiras vndon,
The signe of the Crois they behelden Ano7i ;
And there anon it semed there In Al here siht
A wondirful Red Cros, & Merveillously dyht ;
And yppon that Crois hem thowhte they sie
A man In man^e on )>at cros was Crucifie.
In the Mene whille \a\> this Sihte was,
happed A man to comen Into that plas ;
And losephes him Clepide there Anon,^
For his Arm Ny from his body was gon ;
" Certes," quod losephe, " this lord is of so gret powere,
That thin sore putte to him here,
As heil <& sownd thanne schalt thow be
As eu^r is Oni Man In Cristiente." 148

And this Man dide Anon As he him bad.
And Riht Anon there his hele he had.
Thanne alle the hurte men \ai weren present
Seiden it was don be Enchauntement ; 152

And his Arm be-Cam As hoi Anon ;
As was fisch that bar A bon.

^it a grettere Meryeille was in that plas,
Of the Cros that In the Scheld tho was : 156

It yansched Awey there tho sodeinly
That neaere man ne wlste whedir ne whi,
So that it was neuere More Sein
In that Scheld Aftir Certein. 160

Of this thing Alle Sore abasched they were
That in theke plase ^t tyme weren there.

And whanne Seraphe this gan beholde,
Non lengere thanne Abiden he wolde, 164

' The French makes Seraphes propone to Josephes the cure
of the woanded man as a test If he can be cured, Seraphes
will believe in Qod as the true one.

JoMphweallf
for STAlach'a

135 and upon tiM
radCroMonlt

they Me •
crudAed man.

144 AdlgaMdmaa

/ pato hit (nuI
arm to the CroM,
and it la at once /
heald.

Than the Croea
▼aniahea.

202

SERAPHE 18 BAFTIZD, AND CALLD NASCISNS. [cH. XVI.

8eraph«

fUls at JoMph't
feet and bega
tobabaptiid.

Joaepb bapilMa
him and oalla
him VAMOimma,

A burning flra*
brand Mama to
anter hfa moath,
a Voloa njra ba
iapariflad.

and flild with
the Holy Ghoat ;

But Anon Cristened he wolde be,

& On him to heleve, In Eche degre.

That hath so moche etrengthe & power,

8ike Men Forto keveren there. 168

And he him there dressed yppe al so skeet^

And f jl adown Anon to losephes Feet ;

There Axede he loseph, for charite,

Anon A Cristene man that he Mihte be. 172

** In the name of ^* Fadir, sone, & holigost,

Whiche that Is lord of Mihtes Most,

I the cristene/' quod loseph thanne,

''And loke fat thou be true cristenne Manne." 176

In his Cristendom, his Name chonched he,

And Clepid him ' Nasciens/ that men myhte so.

And Anon As he tho Glistened was,
Swich A Clerte On him fil In fat plas, 180

Seenge to hem that stood Abowte,
Of diuers meine a fol gret Bowte,
And hem besemede ful verraylj
That alle his Clothes weren taken Awey ; 184

Hem thowhte they sien A brennenge brond of fer
Into his Mowth how it Entrede ther.
Thanne herden they there A wondir vois anon.
That thus to hem seide fere Everichon : 188

" The last of y ferst hath taken Away
Alle filthhedis this ilke day.
Be his Owne stedfaste Creavnce
Him is be-liapped this ilke Chaunce." 192

And whanne this vois tho was past,
Thanne yppe him Stirte Seraphe In hast ;
And Felt him Self As heyl & qwerte,
And as hoi A man In body & herte. 196

And Anon fulfiUid there he was
With the holi gost tho In that plas ;
And thanne be-spak sire Nasciens :
** The holi gost is in my prescna, 200

en. XVI.] EVALAOH 18 BAPTIZD^ AND OALLD MOBD&AIHS.

203

That Me Certefjeth Of Myn Creavnce,

Ss how that I schal leven with-owten variaance ;

That to Owre mete ne gon not we

With hondes vnwaschen In non degre ;

And him there worschepen scholen we thanne,

That Most Worthy Lord that becam Manne."

And behold what God Schewed to £ualach tho
For the grete Affiaunce he hadde him vnto.
That Tholome theke same Owr
Owt of this world was past with dolowi.
And thus him Schewed the holy gost
That Evere Is lord Of Myhtes Most.
So longe thanne there Spak Sire Nasciens, .
Of goddis Myht and of his presens,
That king Eoalach Ban Cristened to be ;
And Also that Man In the same degre
Whiche that lus Arm was ny Offe go.
To Cristendom faste Kan he tho.
And Anon As that they Cristened were.
Hero !Names In here Forehed were wreten pere ;
Eualach to * Mordraynes ' Tomed was,
And the hurt Man to ' Clamacides ; '
Thus bothe here Kames I-torned they were
Be strengihe and yertw Of baptism there^
As banarers Of that hye kyng
The wheche hem browhte to baptising.

Thanne seide Sire Mordrains to his qwene,
' That sche scholde Comen, Cristened to bene ; '
Thanne Answerid [sche] to hire lord Anon^
" That it Were I^ethir Skele ne Beson :
For on body, twyes baptised forto be.
Sire, it were non Besoun, So thiukefch Me."
Thanne Axede hire the kyng Anon
How that this Cause Mihte thus gon.
" Sire," sche seide thanne, " Certeinlye
xxvij wynter Agon it is fullye

[iMfUl

hetelUmen
nerer to Mt
204 fbodiHth
niiiraaht

Bj God's griOT

20o thon diet In pun
(•«6 p. MM).

212

KaadMit oonvarii

216

and Uie hoald
man.

who are bapUid,
andealld

220 XOBDBATirM

and Clamandea.

224

Mordralnt
Ulte hit wife
«^0 Sarracynte to
bo bapUid t

232

236

bat the aayf
ibo't been a
ChrirtianST
yean.

J

204 JOSEPH BAPTIZES THE 8ARRAS HEN, AND BREAKS THEIB IDOLS.

Sarrw^ntt
Ulls Evalach
tiM story of her
convenloa.

H«r name bmum
*AiUof(kitii.'

JoMpllM bftptilM

over 50O,(W0
fulkofSarrM,

nnd reftttM to
ItfHve the plftoa
till he's broken
Nil the id«^
there.

which he does.

That I Crestened womman haue be,

Sire kyng, forsothe As I telle the."

And the kyng Axede here how it was.

Anon sche him tolde Al the Cas : 240

Evene As sche to losephe tolde,

Sche him Reheisid pere Manifolde,

And seid the holy man that hire Cristened pere,

Here Name Kolde chonge In non Manere, 244

** But seid to Me In his talkyng,

* Thy Name ' ful of faith ' Is signefieng.' "

And whanne that they thus Cristened were,

Alle the Eemnaunt that weren there 248

Comen Alle ful faste Ee/tnenge

Forto Eesceyven there baptisenge ;

And losephes took A basyn with water Anon,

And Amongs hem Faste he gan to gon ; 252

There Anon he Made hem AUe knelynge,

And there ^af he to hem Baptisenge,

And yppon here hedis water threw he Abowte,

Vppon that Meyne In theke grete Eowte, 256

Where As was v hundred thowsend & Mo,^

In that same plase Cnstened be' tbo

In the Name of the fadir & Sone & holigost,

Wheche that Is lord of Myhtes Most. 260

Thanne On the Morwe Nasciens wolde gon
Into Furthere Contres Anon,
And loseph with him wolde he have,
The Centre to saunctefie & to save. 264

But loseph him tho Answerid Anon,
** That Owt of Sarras wold he not gon
Til the ymages weren broken Echone,
And the temples Sanctified er he pena wold gone, 26S
As Oure lord him Comaunded be his mowth pre-

sente ; "
& so he dide, £r he thens wente.

* .T. mUe et .iij. cens. — MS Reg. * ? cut out * be.*

CH. XYI.J JOSEPH QOES TO ORCAUZ, LEAVING THE GBAIL IN 8ARRAS 205

And whanne Alio this peple thus hadde he wonnp,
And Groddis ful Creaunce there begonne, 272

Thanne Abowtes In Yiiown Al that Centre
The peple to tome, thanne so labowred he.
Whanne that Sarras to Cristendom was browht,
Ful mochel loye was In his thowht 276

Thaime Alle tho gan he with him take
That Owt of lerusalem weren his Make,
Except Only pcrsones thanne thre —
That he lefte with the Arche forto be, 280

And that holy disch that was there-Inne,
It savely to kepen from More Oper Mynne ; —
Whiche On of hem ' Enacore ' gonne they Calle,
The tother ' Manasses,' As tho gan falle ; 284

The thridde was clepid ' Lwcan,'
Thike same Tyme of Every man,
That loseph took the Arch In kepinge
To his purpos. As to A ma;i of best levenge. 288

And thus these thre leften there
To kepen this holy Arch In this Manure ;
And Alle the tothere gouT^en forth to gon,
Cristes Name to sanctefien Anon, 292

And the peple to jeven baptiseng ;
And this was alle here labowreng.
But of hem At theke time was non there
But that the holigost in hem spak Every where, 296
And Alle Man^r of langage thanne dide hem have ;
Where-thorwh the peple that they myhtew save.
And with-owten losep^^ and his sone
"Weren Ixxij that to-gederis dide wone.

Thanne losephe to Orcauz gan to gon.
And there Into the temple he Entred Anon,
And In ful gret thowht there was he,
But Evere his herte was vppon the Trenite. 304

And his letheme Gyrdel tho took he anon,
And to An ymage there Gan lie to gon.

Jowph )mxw
three men In
8«rraiy

Knacore,

IfliinaaMa,

Lucan,

[nee p. 03]

to look after
the Ark of the
Qrall.

300 [zUz. Frendi]

Joeeph readiee
Orcaox,
and goee Into
the Temple.

20G JOSBPII DRAGS ABOUT THE DEVIL WUO KILLD THOLOMES. [cH. XVI.

Joieph ooiOttrM
a Devil (AtclabM
I. 876) oat of an
idol.

anddragt him
before NMciana.

Joseph aaki the
Devil whj he
made Tholomee
fill out of the
tower;

and bUU him
answer.

Tlie Devil aaja:

That stood In the temple vppon the chief Awter,

And him Anon Coniowred there. 308

And the deyel there Anon forth Hyht

Owt of the ymage isswed In Al here siht.

And whanne that Owt of the ^'mage he was gon,

loseph thanne took his Girdel Anon, 312

And Abowte his Nekke he Made it fast,

And it drowgh to-Fore the king In hast ;

So In pat Manere he drow it thorwgh the Cite

That Al the peple there him Mihte thanne se. 316

Thanne Axede him Nascions Anon Riht there,
" Whi that so sore lustefyed he were^l"
Thanne losephe to him Sone Agein :
" In time Comeng thow schalt weten Certein." 320
Thanne Axed losephe of f * devel A-fom hem Alle fere,
' Why he hadde so ferd with kyng Tholomere,'
^ And whi thow Madist him so to fallen A-down
Atte the wyndowe Of p^ towr to his Confiicioun 1 " 324
Thanne spak the devel to loseph tho Certeinle :
" Goddes Seriawnt, A while that f ou wost lesen* Me,
And I schal to the tellen Anon Eyht
Of kyng Tholomer, fat foil clepist A knyht." 328

Thanne losephe his Ginlil tho gan to vndon
From the schrewes Nekke there Anon,
And 80 wente he forth there Al Abowte.
And loseph liim Comanded Among Al that Howte,
* That Openly the sothe to tellen there, 333

How it So happed Of kyng Tholomere.*
Thanne Answerid that schrewe sone him Ageyn,
And seide, " loseph, I knowe it wel for Certeyn 336
What Merveilles that God hath for the wrowht ;

[ no gap in the MS,^

For In Sarras there God wrowhte fore the,

The Man that was Mayned,^ fere hoi forto be ; 340

* 'pour quoi il le iusticboit bi, et ke il li auoit fourfait.' — A.
* loosen, free. ' Tome qui auoit le brach caupe. — A,

OH. Xn.] WHY THB DBVIL ASBLABAS KILLD THOLOMES.

207

Thorwh Signe of the Crois that he towched there,

Anon was he Mad bothe hoi & Fere ;

Also there Cristenedest thow kyng Eualach,

That Alle Oure lawe there gan he Forsak ; 344

And so I supposed thow wost han don here,

To Cristendom han browht kyng Tholomere.

And for I suppesid that thow wost don so,

In liknesse of Man I gan to hym go, 348

And told him there a newe tyding,

' That on the Morwe, Sire Eualach the kyng

Wolde him don bothe hangen & drawe,

And him to bringe Owt of his lif dawe.' 352

Thanne whanne thus I hadde hym told^

Anon his herte gan to wexen ful cold,

And he me preide him forto helpe.

There thus Of My Self I gan to ;elpe, 356

For I tolde him, * Certeinle

I Cowde him helpe Id A1 degre ;

And Owt of ^at Castel Forto gon,

I him Wolde helpe Riht Anon,* 360

Thanne tomed I Me In semblaunce of a Grifown,

Owt of that towr him to helpen A-down ;

And yppon my bak I Made him Sitte;i there,

Ta that he Owt of that Cite were ; 364

And whanne On My bak I-set was ho,

I let him falle, & to-breste on pecis thre."

Thanne loseph A^en took pat schrewe Anon Biht,
And bond him A^en In Alle Mennes Siht, 368

And him so ladde thorwgh Al the Cite

«

That al the peple him Mihte there Se,

And seide, " je Caytives, now, Everichon,

Here Is 30ure god that jc beleven vppon." 372

Thanne Axede him loseph In that plas,

In what Manere that he Clepid was.

Thanne the schrewe Answerid him Ageyn,

'' AselabaSy My name is Clepid In Certein ; 376

'Itbooghtyon'd
oonvert
Tbolome* ;

lo I told him
Evalach roeant to
hang him next
day;

and then I oflTerd
to help him
••cape.

I tnrnd myaelf
into a QritBn,

and when
ThoIomcB got on
my back, I
dropt him; and
lie broke into a
pU

My nam« la
AaelaboBs

203 JOSEPH OONVEBTS AND BAPTIZES MANY MEN OF OBCAUZ. [CH. X\L

and my work to,
bjr fiU^tf talM to
corrupt and
«to*trojr UMB t

Mmiy ftrik of
Orcttuiara
hnpiiia by
Joseph.

Monlnijmw
ordort all wlio
won't turn
Chrintiuns to
quit hto laml.

Many do M^

who won't ohaaga
tlMlrftUtli;

but lervral die as
they leave tlie
city.

And, loseph, I telle the what is Myn Offis :
Men thorwgh fSedse tales to bringen In to vis ;
And thorwh my fak tydyDge

Thus bringe I hem to schort Endenge." 380

And whanne the peple herd en Al this Ado,
On him there wondrede Mani-on tho ;
To Cristeneng Alle ronnen they Eiht faste,
As longe as that It Myhte laste ; 384

And losep/ie was Eaei*6 Eedy Anon,
And there hem Baptised Everichon.
Thanne losep^e Coniowred the devel Anon,
And Owt Of his bondes let him gon, 388

That he Scholde Neuere Noyen Man ne wommau
That the signe Of the holy Cros hadde vppon.
Thanne Anon the kyng let the banes Crye
Thorwhd Al his lond ful Certeinlye, 392

That Al his lond Cristendom Scholde take,
Only For lesus Cristes Sake ;
And alle tho that wolde not Cristened ben,
Anon Owt his lond that [they] Scholde fleen, 396

And neuere thedir Inne to Hetomen Agein ;
This was this Comandement Certein.
And whanne this cry was thus don.
To Cristeneng wente there Mani On ; 400

But Mochel peple ^it tho there were
That Owt of theke Cite fiedden there ;
For th^ ne wolden not Chongen here lay,
Mochel of that peple thens wente that day. 404

And whanne loseph beheld al this,
Ful mochel mone he Made I-wis.
Thanne spak the devel to loseph tho,
" Behold what Venyaunco I wil now do, 408

For tho that Cnstened wold not han had,
Owt At the jates the devel hem lad,
Of whom deyden sodeinly Manion
[As Owt of fe jates they wolde han gon ;] 412

CH. XVI.] AN ANOEL DRIVES A SPEAR INTO JOSEPH'S HIP.

209

And somme the dovel horte wondir sore.

And Owt of here wittes jit Mani More.

Alle the He7/inaunt that Asckapen Mihte,

Konnen to loseph there Anon Ejhte, 416

There that the Miscreawntes CriAtened be.

And whanne this Merveille losephe sawh he,

Thedirward faste wente he Anon —

Also Faste he hyede As he myht gon. — 420

And aboven the dede bodjes saw he J^ere Sitte

The deyel that Owt of p* Cite Made hem flytte.

" A ! thow Cursid gost," quod loseph tho,

** Whi hast thow this yeniaunce thus do ? 424

And to this, ho that Comanded the,

Telle me, thow devel, er thow hens fie."

Thanne the devel Answerid him Agein,

'* Be Cristes Comaundement In Certein." 428

" Tho[u] lyest Falsly," quod loseph tho,

" His Comaundement was it Nevere so."

And loseph to him ward faste gan gon,

Him forto han taken & bownden Anon ; 432

In his Girdel, as he to-foren was,

Forto han bownden him In that plas.

And as loseph loked him tho Abowte,

In his herte he hadde grd; dowte ; 436

An Aungel to-Fom him Sawh he there

With a merveillews contenaunce In yis manure.

For his vesage As brenneng Fyr it was /

To him there semeng, neper more ne las. 440

Ful sore abascht was he per-oSen tho,

That he ne wiste what he myhte do,

And wondred what it schold signefie,

Thaungel that loked so vegerowslye. 444

And in this Mene whille of thinkenge,

Thaungel with a spere he dide him stinge ;

In tho to the hipe, to the harde bon.

This Angel him stang there Anon, 448

The FMt so back
to JoMph,

And h« baptlxM
them.

JoMph MM the
DerUAMUbM
•ittlng over the
deftd bodies.

He le ffolnir to
bind thlA Devil,

when he esee ui
Angel before bin.

who drives a
spear Into hie
hip up to the
bone^

GBAAL.

14

210 THB SPEAB-HEAD STOPS IN JOSEPH'S HIP. [CH. XVL

■ad iMTM the And there lefte he the spcre and b* hed

■pesr And liMd

then, Stille In his hype In that^ Sted :

bmoM JoMph " Lo, losep^, this is to Signefie

didn't baptlM the ^ ' ,

dMd oroMu men. For hem thou leftest Oncristened Sekerlje ; 452

Therfore this thy mark Schal be,

& it Contenuwe schal with the."

Thanne thaungel thens gan to gon,
Joieph dniwa out And loseph drowgh ow[t] f • spere schaft anon ; 456
•penr; botiu But the hed In his hype lefte here stille,

hand atope In his

hip» For that was only goddis wille ;

But it Greyed him but litel thing.
For it was only Goddis wameng ; 460

But the blood Cowde he staunchen In non wise,

which bieeda But every day newe it gan forto Heprise,

dniljr.

As longe as with-Inne was the hed,

Thus it bledde In Every sted. 464

But thaungel bad him non Merveille hare :

" That God wold ban saved, wile he save,"

As in tyme Comeng je scholen here

In this same storie, and ^e welen lere. 468

j<msh walk! out, Thanne loseph walked forth Anon,
And his Menie with him Everichon ;
And of his wounde hadde he non gret dolowr.
But he was in giet drede of Oure saviour. 472

Thanne here-Offen Merveilled gretly the kyng,
What that this be In to Signefieng.

aadMjrahii Thanne seide losephe to him Anon there,

wonnd is to

brine people oat ** Of this, Merveille je not In non Manere ; 476

misht. Sire, it is, I telle the now Eyht,

The peple to bringe Owt of the develes Miht."

Thanne whanne y peple him so herde speken fere,

Ful loyful they weren that Cristened were ; 480

And alle that vncristened weren to,

To Cristendom faste gonne they go.

Thus loseph wrowhte at Orcau[z] Cite ;

Sekerlych there baptised he gret Meyne ; 484

I MS. thast

CH. XYI.] JOSEPH OONVERTS ALL KASCIENS's PEOPLE. ^11

And his felawes there weren with hem,

That they hrowhten owt of lerusalein.

So that Crist there so faire for him wrowhte, J^^p* *■"" *fl

' the Orewu Mk

That alle the peple of Orcaus to Cristendom he hrowhte, Ghrbtun.

And with-Inne thre dayes Everichon. 489

Thus Goddis wille fulfild he Anon,

So that lefbe there nethir gret ne smal

That to goddis lawe [ne] weren tomed al. 492

And what he the holy wordis that he pere spak,

And he the holi gost with-Owte» lak,

Mochel peple of the Contre tomede he,

Goode Men & Gristened Forto he : 496

And alle the ymages that In the temples were, bant md

He dide hrenne & to-hrast Every where : idoiib

Al thus wrowhte loseph In that Contre,

In the temples and to the peiple,^ where-so went he ; and then oonTwtt

And Into the Contre of Nascien, 501 people.

He made hem alle tho Cristene Men.

And thanne A3en to sarras loseph gan to go,
And Nasciens with him tho Cam Also ] 504

For loiful In herte was he thanne.
For he Converted there Manie A manne,
And fulfilled goddis Comandement,
The wheche was holy his Entent. 508

Thanne loseph of his feleschepe perQ ches fill sonSy JoMph diooM
And hisschopee^ hem Ordred there Anone, onim umb u>

And sente hem Ahowte Into Eche Contre, whrn;*^^"^*

Goddis lawe forto prechen ful openle. 512

Somme of hem dwelde In Nasciens lond.
And somme In Mordrayns, As I vndirstond,
Whiche was a lord of gret Seignourie,

•

And Mochel peple hadde In his haillye ; 516

So that loseph ches Owt thre & thrytty, bntiMrMM

» , «. .,,.,«, , with him.

And Sixtene with him left pleynly.

* MS. plelple.

* si lor dona Tordene et la hanteche de prouoire. — ^A.

J

Joseph undf hii
16 Msbo|» to
preach about the
eoontiy.

He and hie
people then ga
tosedEr<»'th«
two Hennit-
Sainta* bodiee.

212 JOSEPH GOES TO 8EAR0H FOB TWO HOLT HERMITS* BODIES. [GH.ZYL

The wheclie zxzi^, biscbopes gan bo to Make
In fonne lik As god bim Ordre Gan take ; 520

And Also the xyj that with bim were,
Bisscbopes be Made anon Eiht there ;
And Al Abowtes the Contre they wente.
Only to fulfillen goddis Entente. 524

And wbanne Alle the Contre was Cristened abowte,
And in Eucry Cite A bisscbopa witb-Owten dowte,
And deliuered hem from the develis chaunce,
And hem fullicb browbte Into Goddis Creawnce, 528
Be supportacion Of these goode Men,
Kyng Mordrayns And Of Sire Nascien,
Tbens wente thanne losephe Eyht Anon,
And his Meyne with him gan to gon 532

To seken where these holy Ermytes lyen,
And Of here good lyvenge forto Aspion,
Where-Offen they preiden Cure lord, of grace,
Therto forto haven bothe lif and spase, 536

And that here Karnes be Mihte knowe
Er be tbens paste Ony tbrowe.
Thanne fonde be there A lytel lyveret^
Where-Inne that these names weren set ; 540

And the Meritez that god gan for hem do,
In that litel leveret be fond Eybt tho.
The Ferste liuaret thus gan it sein :
^ Here litb Salustes In certein, 544

Wheche that was Goddis trewe Seriawnt,
Of whom the lif Of bim Make]) semblawnt^
That xzxvi wynter bermyt badde be be.
And that neuere worldly viaunde sawb be 548

That Euere was mad with mannis bond,** —
Thus this liu^ret doth vs to vndirstond —
* But Erbes & Botes that In Erthe were ;
Thus lyved he xxxvi ful jere.' 552

* et si trouua en chascune fosse vn liuret^ on la vie del boin
home estoit eecrite, et 11 nons de lui el commenchementb — A

He Audi a little
book

aaying, 'Here
liee Salnatoi who
•ervdGod

86 jmn, and eat

only herba and
rooU.'

JOSEPH MOVES TWO SAINTS' BODIES TO 8ARRA8 AND ORBERT. 213

And farthennore I-wrete?i pete was :
' Here lith Ennonies In this plas ;'
And thus his lif gan for to telle,
'^That XXX wjnter & viij Monthes snolle 556

Sethen that ferst Ermyt becam he' —
As In this liueret here mown je se —
' That Keuere Othir clothiDg he hadde
But swich as ferst to his Ermitage he ladde^ 560

Kethir In hosinge, nethir I schon,
Ke non Othir thing On him to doon.
Othir yiaunde hadde he non verament,
But Everidaj swich As God him Sente;*— • 564

And of Tasse he was born ;^
The toper In bedlem, pat 1 Behersed beforn.

And whan»e losephg gan this to vndirstonde,
Vpe hem took he with his honde, 568

And bar hem Into the Cite of Sarras,
Where-offen Many a man Glad pere was.
Thanfie Nascien preide loseph tho,
That with him to Orbery wolde he Go, 572

And that On Of hem that he myhte have, —
Holy hermoine thermit he gan to Crave, —
Where that worthily his Body beried he,
And a Eyal Chirche Mad there be ; 576

And In Sarras Cite ful Certeinly
He let Keren a Chirche ful solempnely.
And In eche of these Chirches two
Twelfe prestes he dide there do, 580

For the bisschope Of nethir plase there
Mihte not Suffisen, so moche peple were.
The Ermyt At Sarras, the Eldest' they gonne Calle,
And the jongest at Orbery, thus seiden thei AUe. 584

' et si diBoit encbore sa vie, * ke 11 estoit de tarsenes : et
salustes estoit de la chite de bethleem.* — A.

' Et ]i eueskes qui fu establis ea sarras si fa apieles * ana-
tistea.* Et clill d'orberike fu apieles * iuaenaus.' — A

« And hera lief
SnnoniM, who
WM a b«rmit for
SOytanaadS
numihSf

and had no mora
olothaa than ha
atflratwort.*

Joacph oanries
the two aalnts'
bodiaa to Sarraa ;

and leta Naicfena
hare Ennonies's
body at Orbary
eboreh.

leaving Saloatee'a
at Sarraa ehorch.

He appolnta IS
Piieate for each
choroh.

21-4 ALL SARRAS, AMD NASCIENS's LAND, ABB CHRISTIAN. [cH. XYII.

Thai JoMph Tlius thaone Joseph worscheped there
citiM with Bothe Citez with holy bodyes in fere,

Mints' OOfpSM* -

Where as they grete Myracles do

Evcri day dureng jit hidirto.^ 588

Thus the Contre Of Sarras & Nascien

Weren Clene becomen Cristene men.

CHAPTER XVIL

How Joseph shows Mordreins (Bvalach) and Nasciens (Seraphe)
the Ark and the holy things in it (p. 215). On seeing the
Holy Qimil, Kasciens is filld with joy, and tells them how
a vision of his youth is now fulfilled (p. 215). He then
lifts up the 'plateyne* over the dish, for which he is
struck blind (p. 216). Mordreins asks Nasoiens what he
saw, but can only get a vague answer (p. 217). An angel
appears with the lance whose head is in Joseph's thigh,
and draws out the head by putting the lance to it (p. 218).
With the blood from the wound he restores Nasciens*^
sight (p. 218). Joseph says that when the lance drops
blood, the secrets of the Sank JRyal^ or Seint Qraaly shall
be known (p. 219), and predicts that the lost or Nasciens's
line shall be the only man thereafter wounded by the
lanoe, and who shall see the wonders of the Holy Grail (p.
220). Mordreins asks Joseph to interpret his dream of
the Three Trees [Chapter vii. p. 64-7], and Joseph does
BO (p. 221-224). The ugly-barkt tree was Christ ; the other
two trees, the Father and the Holy Ghost ; the two people
that left the others were Adam and Eve ; those who hewd
the branches were the Jews who crucified Christ (p. 222).
Christ descended into Hell, and brought the Saints out of
it (p. 222). The Trinity and their names, Iffrmer, Sa^
riovr, Cleafuer (p. 223). The Immaculate Conception and
Birth of Christ (p. 224). Joseph orders Mordreins to bum
the image of the woman that he has secretly Iain witli
(p. 225). Mordreins shows the hidden chamber where he
kept the image, and then bums it (p. 226). Joseph departs
from Bnrras, and 207 Saracens with him (p. 227). Hia
last charge to King Mordreins (p. 227).

Mordrdna au4 Thanne seide the kyng and Nascien tho,

NmoIwu want to _

iM Where the ' That Tfith loseph thanne wolde they go,

ChrUUant pray.

To seen where that they made here preicrs :

Thus seiden the king & Nascien there. 4

' Car li glorieus fiex dieu i fait et fera iask*en la fin du
nionde grans virtus et grans miracles pour Tamour d'aus. — A.

CH. XTIL] JOSEPH SHOWS THE KINGS THE ARK AKD OBAIL-DISH. 215

Anon thanne Joseph with-Owten lettenge
To the Arch hem hrowhte, & made non tarienge,
And schewede there to the kyng
In the Arch there ful precious thing : 8

And there the king beheld In that plas
The vestements that loseph Sacred -wiVi was
Bisschop of Cristes Owne hond ;
And Also the Chajere he Say there stond, 12

Whiche Chaier he preisede wondirly faste,
And there-offen he seide thanne atte last,
' That It was of Alle the Eyalost Sittyng than
That Evere Ordeyned was for Erthly man.' 16

Thanne loseph schewed hem the holy disch Anon,
Where-Inne that Sank Ryal was I-don.
And whanne that Nasciens loked ther vppon,
Fill passeng gret loye hadde [he] Anon, 20

And seide, ' Of Alle the sihtes pat Euere jit he say,
Liked him neu^re non so moche In-to pat day ; '
Ne neuere so loyful was he of siht,
As that tyme was Nascien, I the plyht. 24

Now hadde he holy his Entent :
That he desired to sen, was fere present.
" Now wot I wel that fulfild it is in me.
Sire, A thing that I now schal tcUen the : 28

For whanne I was A jong Sqwyer,
An gret hert I chasede wilde wher.
Whanne I hadde lost the Noyse of myn howndes,
And Also Alle my men w/t^-Inne fewe stowndes, 32
Thanne In gret thowht there I stod ;
And pere was non man that wit^ me hod,
Ne Abowhtes me no/i Man Saw I tho
That Ony word I myhte speken vnto. 36

And as thus I In this thowht was,
To me a vois Cam In that plas,
* Seraphe I merveille thow not so.
For jit thi thowht ne may comen the to, 40

JoMph takti

ttitmtoth«

GnU-Ark,

and ahowi th«m
hif BlBhop'i
VMtm«nts and
dudr.

and the holy
Grail-Dtoh.

Naadmisifl
r^oicty

and tdlt hoir,

when he waa a
yonng Miaire^
oat hnntlng,

he loct his dogs
and men.

and then heard
a Toloe telling
him

216 MASOIBKS 18 8TBU0IC BLIND FOR TOUCHIKQ THE OIUIL. [cH. XVIT*

1m dumld ••• th*
Beinl Oraai,

He

it.

and lUU op th«
cuvarortheOnlL

ThtnlMqqakM

Mfihehas

and baa loat hit
sight, not to
rwoTM' It tin tlM
■PMurhaad U
drawn oat of
Joanh'9 hip.

Tyl thow mo Mer^eilles schalt se with-al.

And Also thing that is Clepid s^t GraaL'

And therfore now wot I ful well

That this [is] Seint Graal Everidel ; 44

Kow know I wel that my pensifnesse

Is fulfilled with Alio Goodnesse."

^it thowht More Sire Xasciens than,
And that tyme wrowhte As no7i wis man, 48

But there lefte he vp the plateyne Anon
That yppon this glorious vessel was don ;
And whanne with-Inne he gan to looke,
He him withdrowh, & for drede he qwooke. 52

And thanne the kyng Axede him Anon,
** Sire Kascien, what han ^e at the Arch don 1 "
" Sire," quod he there Anon Ryht tho,
** He is a fool that don wele as I have do, 56

To knowen the Secrecs of his Saviour,
Him forto Greven In ony Owr."
" Why," quod thanne kyng Mordreins tho,
" Haven je now lesu Crist I-Greved so I " 60

" Be my feyth, Sire," qwod Sire Kasciens,
** 1 knowe wel I have oSendid jit Goddis pi*esens,
For that I have sein so moche be Owtraye
That non Erthly Man no Owhte to have saye." 64

Thanne Axede the kyng, loseph Anon,
How that this Cawso Mihte Gon ;
And thanne Answerid Nasciens Agein,
" Come thens, loseph, now In Certein ; 68

Belioldo it Not, I preie now to the,
That semblawnce that was schewed to Me,
Whcro-thoTwgh that I have now lost my sight
Be the Ordenaunce of God Alinyht, 72

Whiche that I schal neucre Recoveren Ajen
Til the spere-hed Owt of thin hype be clen,
Where-with the Aungel At Orcauz Cite
With that Spere there smot the." 76

OH. XVII.] NASCIENS TELLS WHAT HB 8AW IN THE ORAIL.

217

Thanne Joseph tho him heeld ful stille,
Al holy to fulfillen tho Goddis wille.

Thanne Anon Gan kyng Mordrejns
There faste £nqwere72 Of Sire Nasciens, 80

< What Maner6 of thing that he had Seye ; '
Hym it to schewew he preide Openlye.
Quod NascienSy ** I haue sein so moche thing
That ^ere-Offen to tellen it is non Endyng, 84

Ne non tonge kan It now discrie,
I sey to the. Sire Kyng, Certeinlie.
I have sein,'' quod tho sire Nasciens,
" Of Alle Manure of wykkednesse the defens ; 88

[Of alle Boldnesse^] I have Seyn the begynneng,
Of Alle wittes the Fowndyng,
I have sein the begynneng of Eeligeown
And Of Alle Bowntes, bothe Al & som, )2

And the poyntes of Alle Gentrye,
And a Merveil Of alle Merveilles Certeinlye."

Aitir this word thanne Anon
They weren Abaschet tlianrte Everichon. 96

The kyng of him thanne Enqwered there
' How his siht was lost, And In what Manere.'
And Sire Nasciens Answerid him Agein,
** I wot Neuere, Sire, for Certein, 100

But for that I lokede on pat swete thing
That but fewe owhten to don lyvyng,
The wheche a merveille of alle Marveilles is,
Sire king, I the Seye mth-owten Mys." 104

Thanne Enqwerod [he] Of Nasciens Ageyn
What that Merveille scholde ben pleyn :
'* Sire,** quod Nasciens, " thow gest non other Of Me,
Siker, Sire, An Also In Gerteinte, 108

MordrelM uks
Naadens whul
h« Mw In th«
GtbU.

Naadem saji ,

the Fonnding of
Knowledge, and
the Beginning of
Bellglon.

Mordrelnt asks
how he lost hie
eight.

KMdene eajti,
beoaose he lookt
oo the Grail.

' ** Tai," dist il, " vea la commenchaille des grans harde-
mens, L^ocoison des grans proueches, ronquerrement des grans
sauoirs.** — A. Marditnent, m. Hardinesse, boldnease, audacitie,
■toutneflse (an old word). — Cotgrave.

218 AN ANOSL CURES JOSKPH's THIOH, AND KASCISNS'S BLINDNKS8.

/

A Toict frontlM
OnU-Axk ipMkiL

An Ang«l oomti
forth

with the Lance
tltat wounded
Joeeph,

Md with It
drtwe the ipeer-
heed out of
Joeeph'a thigh.

He anointa
JoMph's wound ;

116

120

124

and with Joseph's
blood anointa
Naaclena'a eyei^

and rettorts his
Bight.

For Erthlj tonge Is there non On lyve
That Cowde tho MerreiUea vel discryve."

And whanne thus to-fore the Arch hadde ^i ben,
loseph In gret thowht was, as they nijhten sen ; 112
And thus sone A vois there gan to Crye,
That Al the peple it herde Sekerlye, —
With in that Arch the vois it was,
That thus there Sownede In that plas, —
'* My grete veniaunce & my gret discipline.
With my strengthe to jow it schal propine." '

And thus sone as this vois was gon.
An Aungel Owt Of the Arch pere isswed Anon,
And Al In whit I-Clothed was he,
In A ful fayr Kobe Certeinle ;
And In his bond he heeld that lawnce per
Where-with that losep was smeten Er.
That lawnce, In sihte of Kyng and qwene.
The Awngel to loseph it bar bedene.
And there put it Into the same plase
There As to Fore tymes I-hurt he wase.
And whanne the Awngel drow owt y lawnce Agein,
The bed thanne folwede In Certein ;
And the Awngel took A boist wiVi Oynement Anon,
And to that wownde gan he gon, 132

And it Anoynt ful Softely
With that Oynement ful tendirly ;
And thanne the bed on the lawnce he putte Aje/i,
Where-from Ran down blood ful den ; 136

Wbeche blood the Awngel In the boist putte.
And there-Inne ful worthily he it schytte,
And with the same blood Anoynted losephs wounde
Aiid Sire Nasciens £yen. In that stownde. 140

Thus sone as Cleer his £yen were
As Evere Ony tyme weren they Ere.

128

I u

' Apres ma grant yeaianche, ma grant medicine ; et apres
ma founenerie^ mon apaiement." — A.

WHSN THE LANCE DROPS BLOOD, THE GRAAL SHALL BE SEEN. 21D

Thanne Axede 19'asciens to loseph In bye
' What that lawnce Mihte Signefye.' 144

Thanne loseph him Answerid Ageyn :
'' It signefieth, Nas<2iens, In Certein,
Of the grete me^'veilles that scholen befalle
Openly to jowre Syhtes Alle ; 148

For sweche merveilles as ^e scholen sen,
And sweche MerveiUes as to 30W schol schewed ben.
To Cristcs verray knyhtes discouered schal be ;
Whanne that tyme Cometh, this scholen 3e se ; 152
For Erthly knyhtes, hevenly scholen been,
That with 3owre £yen this scholen 30 seen ;
Of wheche schal Nenere Man tellen ]»• Certeinte
Tyl it be fallen In £che degre. 156

And 3if thow wilt here-OfiFe» haven som knowyng,
Tak kepe of this lawnce atte begynneng,
And whanne this lawnce gynneth to blede
Dropes Of Blood In Ony stede, 160

Thanne Aftir Sone scholen 30 sen there
Of the MerveiUes that I Eehersed 3owe Ere ;
And Aftir that M^rveille Is Agon,
Blood on the lawnce Schole 30 neuere sen non ; 164
Thanne Scholen 3e sen of diners Aventnre
Biht Merveillous, I the Ensure,
Be the signeficacionn Of this lawnce,
That Al the Contre schal ben In dowtawnce ; 168

And thanne scholen 30 haven knowleching
Of Sank Eyal, & Many An Othir thinge.
For the Secretis of Seint Graal,
That Somme men it Clepin ' sane Eyal,* 172

There may non dedlych Man there Se
But I alone, As I telle the ;
For so Mochel Of Bownte it is.
And there-Inne so mochel woithynes, 176

That it is likyng wondirly wel,
And to the world schal ben Every del,

Jowpb [bat in
tboFranch*^
anfftlet''} tolls
Nucieiu what
the Lane* m«aiit.

and that when
it dropa blood,

[leaf 11]

manrele will
follow,

and the aeerete
of the Holy
Orail or ' Sano
Byal'ehallbe
disdoad.

220

JOSEPH FORETELLS SIB OALAHAD^S COMINQ. [CH. XTII.

HereftAer ft
Knight, ftiU of
chHiity and
chMUty, shall
ba cmittoii with
theLanoeaa
Joaaphwaa.

And thia Knight
ahaUbathaUut
who thall aaa tha
MarraU of tha
Holy Grail.

Tha Angal from
tha GraU-Ark
vanlsliaa.

As thike that is ful Of Bownie,

And of prowesses ful gret plente ; 180

For he moste ben ful of Charite,

Of Eeligiown, & also of Chastite,

That wit the lawnce Smetyn schal be

As thow me here Sye to-Fore the, 184

And that schal there Neuere Man be non

Bat the Kyng, I telle it the Alon ;

For he Schal be the laste Man

That there-with schal be smeten than, 188

Kyht In A wondir-ful Manere,

As Afterward ^e scholen here ;

But a Merveillous lawnce it schal be

Where-with he schal be smeten, as i telle the. 192

** For these Merveilles schal no Man se
But he be Ful of Alle Bownte ;
Wheche schal ben the laste man
That Evere of this ligne schal be than. 19G

And lik as to !N^asciens ferst publisched was,
So schal he be the laste In Ony plas
That the M^rveilles of the Sank Eial schal se.
Thus be }>• Crwcified kyng it is certefied Me : 200

' Therefore bothe begynneng And Endeng
Of My MeJTeilles they scholen haven knowleching ;
And on hem to, my veniaunce shal I Caste,
That they two scholen knowen Me Atte laste, 204

And Of My strok Me witnesse to here,
That I to the herte wasse stonge vrith A spere,
Thorw wheche strok & o)>ere, f* fah lewes certeinli
On the Crois Me Slowen, hangeng On hy.' 208

& knowe thow wel, loseph, witA-owten dowtaunce,
That as longe as thow hast born this lawnce.
So long scholen the Merreillez duren to thende
Into that londe where I schal the sende." 212

Thanne the Aungel tomed A3en Anon ;
But Abasched weren they Everichon,

JOSEPH INTERPRETS MORDREINS's VISION OF THE 8 TREES, &C., p. 64-7. 221

For they ne hadden not non Cler knowliclienge,

Sauf Only of Nasciens Certifienge. 216

Thanne Joseph Eekened tho riht Anon

How longe seth y lawnce was In him don.

So that it was xii dayes fully

That the lawnce hadde he bom Certeinly. 220

Thanne Anon wente kyng Mordreyns,
And to liis paleys ladde alle CiistienSy
Sauf Only thre that leften Of that hep.
The wheche Abyde there with Joseph. 224

Thanrze clepid the kyng, Joseph anon.
Or Ony Fote Furthere wolde he gon,
' That of theke A-visiowns he wolde him Schewe,
That In his chambre he saw Al on Eewe/ 228

*' The Nyht to-Fore I wente to Bataille,
What vhing it was that Me Gan so to saille,
Keuertheles 3it wot I of som what how it ferde.
Bat I wolde that Nascien of jowre mowth it herde."

Thanne of these Merveilles loseph gan telle ; 233
Afom Mordreyns and Kasciens he gan to spelle :
** Site king 1 ferst In thi Chombre there ]m>u Sye

Jowph had tho
Luio*-h«ad tn Ids
hip 12 dajrt.

Mordrelnsukt
JoMphto
Infee^nrttthe
Tliloii h« Mw
th« night bofoTO
he w«nt to battle.
(Chap. Til, pp.
M-7.)

Joeephdoaeeo:

Thre Trees that were7i wondirly hye,

Alle iij of on gretnesse, And of on lengthe,

And of on heythe, & of on strengthe ;

And thike that hadde the Fowle bark vppon.

That signefied verray Goddis sone ;

The tothere tweyne Signefied, I tellet the.

The Fadir And the holigost In Trenite ;

And the peple that vndir the Tre was,

The begynneng of }>• world it was ;

The tweyne that partid from hem thanne.

Was Adam & Eve the ferste Manne,

That to helle wenten down Kyht

After here deth, I the plyht.

And Alle the Remnawnt ^at fillen In tho :

So dyden they Tyl God on the Cros was do.

236

of the Three
Treee,

240

the fonl-barkt
ooe waeChriat;

(he Other two»
the Father and
Holj Ghost.

244

248

The two folk
who Jampt Into
the ditch,
were Adam and
Eve going to
HeU.

222 J08EPH IKTERFRSTS MOBDBEIKS'S VISION 0? THE 3 TREES, &C., p. 64-7.

TlMfUkwlM
hawdtlM
bnaokM (p. flB)
wtra Um Jem.

ThelnddioftlM
Ttm that Ml into
th« ditch.

and than JnmpC
out Into Its bark

waa Chrlaf a
aool laaTlng Ita
bodylntha
Sapoldira^

while tt. the Soul,
barrowdUaU.

Tliantbeaoal
went Into the
SepulohiaagalB,

bringlnir with It
theeookof
Clirist'i wall-
beloved out of
HeU.

** And tho that the brawnches gonnen forto hewe,
It wereii the Fals lewes yppon A rewe, 252

That persched bothe his hondes & Feet,
And non hoi stiche On him they leet.
And whanne the Tre Fyl A-down,
Alle the Bark there lefte In yirown ; 256

The body that was the Bark with-Inne,
In-to y dich it fil, and nold not blynne,
Where alle the peple fil In be-fore,
And EUes hadden Al the peple be lore ; 260

And whanne A while there hadde he been,
Owt of that diche he Cam A^en,
And Into his bark A^en tomede he sone,
For wel he wiste what was to done ; 264

And so Cler be-Cam that Tre withal,
As Evere dyde ony berylle Othir CristaL

'' Of Alle this thing the Signefiawnce
I schal )ow declaren with-Owten yariau/7ce : 268

Whanne the holigost from the Body was gon,
The Body In the Sepulcre was leid Anon ;
As A thing that ded tho was,

So lay the Body in that plas ; 272

And therwhiles was the Sowle In helle.
The Fendes host al forto felle ;
And his beloved thanne Everichon,
Owt thens with him he browhte Anon ; 276

And thanne whanne thus hadde he I-do,
Into the Sepulcre the spirit gan go,
Al so Clere And Al so Bryht
As Evere the Godhede was In Syht 280

** And th9 peple that heng vppon the brawnches,
Signefied the sowles where-ofifen he wolde not stawnche,
But hem forth Browhte Everichon,
And Of his welbeloved he left non On ; 284

And the leves of that Tre don Signefie
The Membres of Grod, I sey the Certeynlye.

JOSEPH EXPOUNDS TBE 8 WORDS OF MORDBEINS'S DREAM, p. 66. 223

'* And be these thre trees Yndixstonde thow wel

292

296

The blessed Trenite Everidel, 288

Fadir & Sone & holy gost,

iij. persones, Ss but On god Of Mihtes Most.

But on Godhed & but on dejete

Signeiien tho persones thre ;

So Is On god I thre p^rsoues,

And but on dejete In tho wones ;

Ne nethir Of hem More thanne othere Is,

JS'ethir strengere ne feblere with-Owten Mys."

" Joseph/' seyde thanne the kyng Anon,
" These vndirstonde Ich wel Everichon ;
But now Eiht fain wolde I wete of the,
What y Signifiaunce of theke thre wordis mown be."
« Ful gladly Sire," quod Joseph tho, 301

" Theke thre wordis I schal the undo ; —
The Ferste that ' Formere ' wreten Is there,
Betokeneth the Fadir In this Manere, 304

For he Formed Ferst Alle thing
From begynneTig Into the Endyng.
And, For the persone of the sone Into Erthe Alyhte,
To saven Mankende thorwgh his Owne Mihte, 308
There-fore to y sone belongeth the savacion of Man,
Thus Eedely is it. As I the tellen Can j
And for the Cause that it is so.
He Calleth him ' Saviour ' wit^-owten Mo. 312

And, for the holigost discendid Adown
At pentecost to the disciples In virown.
For to Clensen, And forto Maken Clene,
And hem Forto Enflawmen AI bedene ; 316

And, for alle pvrifiments bo-longen to y holigost,
Therfore as ' Clensere ' it signefiet. As it nedis Most.
Now the lettrure of these persones thre,
I haue declared, As je Mown se, 320

That but On deyete And On pvsaunce
Hauen they thre with-0wte9» variaunce."

ThaThrM Trees
ine«nt the
Trinitj,

Three Penons,
botoneOod.

Of the Three

Words (p. 06;,

L* Former/
meuit God the
Father and
Creator of all
things.

t. * SaTloar/
meant God the
Son who sard
mankind.

S. * Cleanser,*
meant the Ho|j
Ghoet

who parifl<
men.

aU

224 JOSEPH EXPLAINS THE CHILD's COMING THRO' THE WALL. [CH. ZTII.

ti

Now vndirstonde I this Eiht wel.
From gynneng to Endeng Everidel ; 324

But of More," quod the kyng,
Ai to tb« room " Thow most don me vndirstonding ;

thftt Mfyrdnlns

Mw (p.e7;. What that chambre doth signefie, *

That with Min £yen I saw so yerralle, 328

That I wende 19'euere to-fom theke day

Into Swich An hows non Man ne entren May."

" A ! Sire," quod loseph thanne Anon,

" fat wele I declarer Er I hens gon ; 332

For that I wolde with Al my myht

In stedfast beleve to bringen the ryht.

and th« chud Thike Child that In the Chambre was,

withoatbmkinf And to-fom the Isswede In that plas 336

^ ^*^ With-Owten Ony wal ofer dore brekynge,

Thus it is to thin & to oure Alther yndirstondinge ;

this meant It signefieth only Goddis Sone,

Clirlaty Of «

That In the Maydeins wombe dide wone, 340

Where as he In alihte, & Owt he cam
Be his Owne Miht as God & Man ;
And lik as he owt of pat Chambre Lsswed to fore y,
who CUM oat of So dide he owt of the virgenite, 344

withoat braaUng And neuere hire Maidenhot was put Away,
(•MP. 68}. Nether to-forn ne After, As I the say."

" Thanne telle me, loseph," quod the kyng tho,
** What was that child that Into y Chambre entred so f "
" Sire kyng, that Child was the holigost, 349

On God of Mihtes Most,
That Into that chambre Entred thanne,
In the savacioun of Alle kynde of Manne. 352

•■Now.ftyi Qod " There-fore sendeth the to Sein be Me

Mordraini, That highe lord God pat is In Maieste,

* That thow schost Anon putten Away
Thike fals simylitude pat thow hast kept Man! day,
bam that faiiM And that thow do hem brennen Anon Hiht 357

Openly In Al the peplis siht ;

Inuga

CH. XVII.] JOSEPH BIDS MORDRKINS BURN HIS BEAUTIFUL STATUE. 225

That semblawnce that so longe povi hast had In keplnge,

Thow Schalfc it don brenne Oner Alle thinge.' 360

Where thow hast don fowl dedly Synne,

In tho pointes that thow hast Trespaced Inne,

The holigost wele pat it be declared Openly,

Thi Falsnesse And thin fowle foly, 364

That Alle the world it Mowen knowe,

Of thi meyne, bothe hyghe and lowe."

This Semblaunce that I have spoken of here,
Lesteneth to Me, and 30 Mown lere ;
What Maner of semblaunce that worschepe he,
30 scholen Mown^ bothe heren and se.
He hadde don him Mad A fair ymage
In forme Of a woman of high parage,— 372

And A fairer^ ymage ne Mihte non ben
Of tre ne ston I-Mad, As men Mihten sen, —
And wit^ hire the king lay Euery oper nyht ;
And thereto In Eyal Eobes sche was diht, 376

And In al so Eiche & worthi Aray
As ony man Cowde devyne oper say ;
And a chambre for hire he let Ordeyne,
The most Mcrveillous that men herd of seyne, 380
That non Man Cowde knowen the openinge,
Nethir thentre ne Owt-Goyng.

Thanne Anon Clepid he forth Sire Nascien
And his qwene, to-Foren him to Comen then, 384

And seide ' that he wolde hem Alle Schewe
His fals leveng, with-Inne A threwe.
That so longe he hadde kept And lad.'

Anon his Meyne he Comanded, & bad, 388

' A gret Feer Forto Maken Anon
In his paleys, Amongis hem Echon ; '
And whanne pat feer was brennenge briht,
Anon he Comaunded hem Owt of his Siht 392

And Owt of the Paleys Forto gon,
Alle his Meyne Everichon,

that thon hast lo
long kept and

sinnd witb.

Confew thy foal
follj."

368 In hd.

[} f Now]

Mordreina had
a lovely etatoe of
a woman,

which he slept
with erery o^her
night,

and kept it In a
most wonderftil
chamber.

Mordreins calls
forth Naaciens,

and bids his folk
make a great fire.

ORAAL.

16

226 MORDREINS BURNS THE STATUE HB'd SINND WITH. [cH. XVII.

So that In his Compenye ne left not there
But loseph, & Nasciens, & his qwecne in fere. 396
Monireiuf takes Thanne the kyng ladde hem forth Anon

Joseph and

Nx-cioni into hu To a sotyl hows was mad of Ikfarbre ston,
And Alle of divers Colowres it was,
Ful scteli I-wrowht In that plas, 40O

And the Schettynge was Mad so p?*evily
That non Man Miht it knowe/i Apertly,
With, a sotil barre with-Inne I-wrowht,
That non man thentre ne knewe nowht. 404

And whanne the kyng it Opene scholde,

with an Iron itey, A sotyl Emen keye In his hond gan holde.
The wbeche the lointours he gan vnscliitte,
So wel of that For-knew he itte. 408

And thus thei Entreden Everichon
There that ymage was Hiht Anon,
Where that disloyalte & synne he hadde I-do
With that ymage pat In the hows was so. 412

takee oot his And that vmaffe Took he there Anon Ryht,

beautiiVil statoa, ./ o j j

And Into that Fyr he let it to ben dyht,
And alle the Eiche Eobes Also

That vppon thike ymage weren I-do, 416

and throws it Evene thus dide he In alle mennes Siht

and its rich robes

into the Are, Thike Ymage to don brennen ful briht.

"0," quod the kyng, "goode lord God, moche is f* Miht,

That me Sendest grace nowe In thi Siht 420

My fals levenge forto Forsake,

And Only to thi servise me take ! "
and there And there aUe his Synne he forsook,

forsakes his sin.

And Onlyche to goddis servise him took. 424

Thanne merveilled Alle that Meyne
Deaf 15] What theke semblawnce myht be,

For there-oflfen herden they Neucre speken be-fore
Of non Man that Evere ^it was I-bore. 428

Alle this was thorwgli losephes techinge.
Him seK and Al his Eem In good lif to bringe,

CH. XVII.] JOSEPH AXD HIS FOLK LEAVE 8ARRAS.

227

Thorwgli the Comandement of Owte lord ;

Thus was the semhlaunce hrend at on word. 432

And whanne Joseph hadde Alle this I-do,
And thike ymage dide hrenne fere Also,
And al the lond hrowht In good beleve,
From Sarras ward he gan to meve, 436

And took his leve at kyng and knyht,
At Nasciens, and Of that qweene so briht.
Thanne the kyng, the qwene, & Sire Nascien,
Cowndied loseph A gret weye then, 440

And Alle that weren In his Compenye
Forth with loseph thei gonnen hem Gye,
Wheche that A gret Meine it was,
That to losep^e Seiden In thike plas, 444

' That 3if loseph wolde In here Compenie go,
From him departen^ wolde they neuere mo.'

And loseph Eesceived hem Everichon
That In his Compenye gonnen to gon, 448

So As be nombre it was I-Eekened to me
Two hundred & Sevene of theke Meyne.
And so of the kyng his leve there he took.
And Alle the Compenie that he not forsook, 452

Ss Charged pe kyng, ' holi chirche to sosteyne,
And Neuere to his Ms levenge to tomen Ageyne ;
More-Ouer, to kepen Cristes lawes,
My techeng, And ferto Alle my sawes.* 456

Thus departed the kyng and they tho
With wepinges, syghenges, & Man ion mo ;
For hem thowghte forloren they were,
Whanne lone^Jie departed from hem there, 460

As ^e scholen heren here Aftirward,
What happes & Chaunses befillen hem hard.
And whanne that loseph forth wente,
Into what Contre he ne wiste veramente, 464

But As be Goddis Comandeme/zt
He it Fulfillede tho verayment.

JoMph prepuTM
tolMT«SanrM.

He takes leftre of
M ordreina and
NaidenB.

P MS departfii

tony]

W! men of
Sarrat go with
Joseph.

He charges
Hordreius to
keep Chriat's
laws.

Mordrelns and
his people weep
at Joseph's
departing.

228 ^ OP MORDREINS'S DBEAH. [CH. XVIII.

CHAPTER XViri.

»

Of Mordreins (or Evalach). How he has a wonderful dream,
which sorely troubles him, to the distress of his queen
(p. 229-32), viz. : ' that he is holding his Court io Sarras,
and as he sits at meat a thuuderbolt knocks the first mor-
sel out of his mouth, and his crown off h\i head (p. 229) ;
that a wind carries him away to a place where a lion brings
him food, which a lioness carries off, till he hits her with
his fist (p. 230) ; that he finds his crown, but with splen-
did stones in it ; that an eagle carries his nephew, Nasciens's
son, to a strange region, where the people kneel to him
(p. 230) ; and then a river flows out of Kasciens's son's
belly, and divides into nine streams, of which the ninth
is troublous and foul at its rise, clear in the middle,
and glorious at the end (p. 231) ; and that a man from
heaven washes in a lake, and in three of the streams that
Bepai ated from the ninth' (p. 231 ). 8arracynte, sad at Mor-
dreins*8 trouble, goes to her brother Nasciens (or Seraphe),
(p. 232), and begs him to ask Mordreins a boon, that he
will tell his dream. Nasciens goes to the king, and asks
him (p. 233). Mordreins tells him the dream (p. 234), and
Bays that it came for his, Mordreins*s, ingratitude to Nas-
ciens (p. 235). To have the dream interpreted, they go to
the Church that Joseph establisht, and hear service, but
none of the pastors can interpret it (p. 236). They return to
the palace, and feel and hear and see wonderful shakings,
noises, and lightnings (p. 237) ; then a horn sounds, and a
voice proclaims Tkt Beginning of Dread (p. 238). Mor-
dreins and Nasciens fall swooning on their bed, and
Mordreins is borne away by the Holy Ghost (p. 238).

Joseph and his Now goth forth loseph & his Compenye

comp«nj go

forth. Be Goddis Comandement Certeinlye,

But Alle here Tomes devisen I ne kan, —

It were to mocho for Ony On Man — 4

Kethir here herebegage, ne hc?*e vyaunde ;

Bat nothing hem lakked, I yndirstonde.

We'll leare them, Now from loseph A while let vs twynne

and take up

Kiiig Mordreins. And of kyng Mordreins we Moste be-gynne, 8

And of the Compenie that Is in Sanaa Cite,

That loseph there lefte of his Meyne.

Thus begynneth this stone forto telle

What Aventure king Mordreins Aftir befelle. 1 2

One night in hed In bedde as he lay vppon A Xyht,

In his slepe was there wondirly afryht ;

OH. XVIII.]

MORDREINS'S WONDERFUL DREAM.

229

And there A gret dreme Cam him vppon,

As after scholen 30 heren Everichon. 16

In this wonderful dteme riht longe he lay,

Til that it was ny liht of the day,

And with his Eyen So sore he wepte,

And EveT6 he lay & faste Slepte, 20

In Sighenges and In Storhelings sore,

Al Evere thus he ferde More & More ;

So that y qwene, that hy him lay,

To hire herte it was a ful gret fray ; 24

But Sche myhte not Enqwerew for non thing

Of him what Amownted this Metyng,

For sche dorste not A3ens his wille

Hym there-Ofifen freyne, for good ne ylle ; 28

For he was bothe feers & Crwel,

Therfore sche ne dorste him A^en neucre a del.

Thus Abod the kyng In this trowble Owt riht
Til it was passed middes of the nyht j 32

And thanne In a softe Sleepc^ fil he,
For werinesse of travaille he hadde Inne be ;
And thus In dremeng thowhte he,
* That he was In Sarras, pat faire Cite, 36

And there In his Cowrt that was so Eiche
And so worthi, that non was liche.
To that Cowrt him thowghte comen there
Manye lordis & ladyes Of gret powere, 40

That werew Arayed & liialy dyht, —
So Ryal Saw he Neuere In his siht ;
And to ^fete Seten they Alle,

As to k}Tig, lordes, & ladyes, don befalle. 44

Him thowhte At his mete Jjcre that he sat ;
His mowht he opened, A morsel putty ??g In J)ere-at ;
Him thowghte A thondir blast gan gon.
That Morsel owt of his hand it smot Anon ; 48

An the Crowne that was vppon his hed,
To the Erthe it Caste In that stcd ;

If ordre!ns dreami
a wonderful
dream

that makfli him
WHjf and sigh.

and frightens
hlsQaeen,

who daren't
ask him what
his trouble Is.

[>HS81erep«]

His dream is,
* that he's la
Sarras,

with many
Lords snd Ladiee
at hb Coart.

At a meal,
a thander blast
knocks a bit of
food out of his
hand,

and throws his
crown on the
ground.

230

UORDREINS'S DR£AM. TUB LION AND LIONESS. [CH. XYUI.

'A ttron^ wind
corriM him to
ft Btrange place.

[} MS hire]
A Lion brings
him fbod.
A LioneM takes
halfofitawajr.

till he panefaes
her.

He And* hie
lost Crown,

iiQi. with (kr
more precious
■tones in it than
before.

An ehgie bears
Nasciena's son
into a far
coontry,

the people of
which kneel to
him.

And whanne he stowpede the Crowne to take,

A boistous wynd there gan to wake ; 52

Ilym thowghte he was born Into A straange place

A fer wey thennes, & fere was a long space.

And 3it him thowhte there wel More,

That A liown & A lioness to him Comen thore ; 56

Everi day the lyown mete to him^ browghte,

And the lionesse Awey it Cawhte,

Sauf scarsly half his ly venge

That the liown dide him bringe. 60

And Atte laste him thowghte Agein,

That non lengere he wolde it sofifren in sertein ;

And with his fist smot so the lyonesse

That sche dide him no More distresse. 64

* Thanne him thowghte his Crowne he fond ;
And yp he took it ])ere In his hond,

And set it A^en vppon his hed ;

Thus thowghte him there In that sted. 68

But it was Chonged thanne wondirly,

The stones of that Crowne Certeinly ;

For the stones weren so preciowse to his eye,

That neuere non So precious stones he sye. 72

* And whanne on his hed it was set A3einy
Thanne Cam his Nevew, Nasciens sone, Certein ;
Him thowhte that An Egle him there bar

Ryht Fer with-Inne the Se thar ; 76

Ful fer Into a stravnge contre

His Nevew him thowghte fere bar he ;

And there the Egle lefte him a-down

Ryht fer Into a strawnge Regiown. 80

And whanne he was there set In fai plase,

The peple that In the Contre wasc,

To him alle they knelid a down

In that plase Abowtes In-virown ; 84

And whanne thus alle they hadden don,

To him so Enclyned Everichon,

CH. XVIII.] THE 9 STREAMS OUT OF NASCI£NS*S BON's BODT. 231

And gret loie of him they made,

And of him were» they wondir glade. 88

* Thanne thowghte him that veraillye
That he Sawgh with his bodilich Eye out of Nasdeiu't

" " son'* body flow

A gret Flood Owt of his body Gon ; » rfven.

Of wheche flood becomes there Nyne Anon, 92

Where-Oflen the viij Reveres were

Of on clemesse, of on depthe & bred, him Jowghte f^re;

But the laste flood that there was, of which thaiut

if most foul aiid

Most deppest, Most Trowblest, semed In that plas; 96 noUy atita

The water was as fowl As Ony chanel,

Riht hydows Therto, & ful stordy Ech del ;

Thus Evene ferd it Atte the begynne^ig :

But In the Middis was thanne Anothir thing, 100

For the water Also Cler was there ?T"^5f™

ia ita middle.

As ony preciouse stones Owghere,

Not-with-stonding it was boystows (fe scharpe

As here to-Foren ^e herden ^le Carpe ; 104

And 3it In the Ende was it in A-nothir Manere, — »nd at its mouth

^if 3e welen lestene ^e scholen here ; —

For it was More Cleer An hundred fold loo-foid clearer

Thanne here to-fore 30 ban herd me told, 108

And More Fairere thanne In the Middcs it was, thauinita

' midst,

And as swete to drinken In ony plas ;

And so delicious it was to drinke, »"^ "®™ .

' delicious than

That More delicious Cowde now Man thenke; 112 can be thought.

In wheche Ende the Cowrs was so softe,

J?at there-oflfen was non Noise on lofte.

3it more him thowghte fat he Sawgh tho

A Fair Man that From the hevene gan go ; 116 a Wrman

And as he lokede, him thowghte, An by

In his hondis he Snwgh the verray Crucyfi ;

And to a lake he Gan to Gon : washes his feet

' and hands in a

His hondes & Feet he weesch thcre-In7?e Ano7i ; 120 ukeandsoftha

other 8 itreams.

And thre of the floodis wheche fat were
Departid from the Nynthe there ;

232 SAUIUCTNTE SEEKS COMFORT FROM HER BROTHER. [CH. XVIII.

Mordreliu waket.

andlsabMht.

Hit QuMti,
Sumcjnta,
U troaUld,

gOM (oher
brother Naaeiens,

tells him how
Mord reins hue
xnoumd all
night.

and aeke him to
find out the
caaee of iU

Into Alle thre he Entrede, wete pan wel,

Hondes, feet, and body he weesch £che deL' 1 24

This Avicioun & this dremenge
Sawgh the kyng In his Slepinge,
Wheche that lasted Xy to the day,
Lik As this Storje vs now doth say. 128

Thanne A-wook this kyng Anon, •
And Eemembred him of these viciouns Echon,
Where-offen Abasched ful sore he was,
Of that wonderful A[nd] merveillous Gas. 132

And the qweene that beheeld his fare.
In hire herte hadde sche ful gret Care,
How sche Myhte Owght knowen of the lif
"Why that hire lord was so thanne pensyf. 136

Anon As sche myhte parceyven the day,
Vpe sche Eos, And to hire brother took the way,
Sore wopingo & sore Syghenge,

"With gret sorwe & lawmen tinge, 140

And so Cam to Kasciens hire brotheris bed,
And down be him sat In thike sted.
Anon Kyht vpe this Nasciens Eawghte,
His Soster there In his armes he Cawghte, 144

And hire A-Freyned with Al his herte,
* Why that sche hadde So manye peynes smerte.'
Thanne tolde sche him of hire lord the kyng
That Al Niht hadde ben In sweche Momeng, 148

And the Cause for why sche ne wiste,
" Therfore, derc brothir, as I the tryste.
Lest he myhte falle In som dispeireng,
Now, swete dere brothir, for Ony thing 152

That 3e wolden of him Enqwere
For what Cawse he hadde Al his fere,
And for lesus love hevene kyng.
For whom we hauen taken Cristenewg, 166

That je wolden streyht to him gon,
A.nd a boone Axen Of hym fere Anon,

CH. XYIIl.] NA801SNB ASKS MORDREINS TO TELL HIS DR£AM. 233

* That he wolde graunten 30W jowre Askyng,

What 80 Evere it be, of AUe thing,' 160

And whanne fat he hath graunted to 30W ]>at boone,

Thanne that ^e wolden Axen him ful sone

« Why that he Ferde So that Kyht,

& why In his sleepe he was so afryht ;' 164

For I ne desire so sore non thing

As there OSen to haven som knoweng."

Thanne Bos 'him ype this Kasciens Anon, NaMi«na gow

to Hordreint,

And to the kynges chambre gan to gon ; 168

And be that tyme he comen thedir was,

The kyng was Resen in that plas ;

And Nasciens him grette fere Anon riht,

And seide, *' Sire ! as thow art bothe kyng & knyht, 172 **• um to

gmt him • boon.

One bone, sire kyng, pat thow grawnte me

With-Owten lettynge Owthir Adversite."

Thanne y king Answerid him Agein,

"Dere brothe[r], je knowen wel In Certein, 176

That nothing wheche Is In Myn bandown

That Al Redy schal been at 3owre peticiown/*

And whanne Naciens yndirstood al this.

That be his Creawnse he wolde not Mis, 180

But fulfillen his bone Al hoi & pleyn,

Thanne to him thus seide he In Certein,

* No more for his boone wolde he Crave, ^^ *>»»* *•»

' to tcU him what

But knowliching of his pensifnesse to have ; 184 Manight'i

trouble wm.

Why Al that Nyht he ferde tho so,

This wolde I wete Er that I go.'

And whanne the kyng herde him thus seye,

Thanne wiste he wel his qweene gan him be-wreye, 188

So that Anon Ryht to Sire Nasciens MordreiM at

" ono« t«lU hit

He tolde his trowblynge wit^-owten Offens, dream to

Naeeiene.

And told him clene his Aviciowun,

And of his Nevew Al & som ; 192

" But 3it nenertheles not for than

I ne have not jow told how it began ;

234 MORDREINS TKLU NASCIENS THE REASON OF HIS TBOLBLK.

XordreliM mji
his troable hu
ooDM on bim

bMftOM h« didn't
fbUU his promiat
torawud
NaaeisDJ for
hithalp.

Thii li lh«
oraie of hla
dUtrMS.

[Tear 16]

At Tftnbel,

at CasUs GomeSf

Kasdena helpt
him.

For of this ^ifte that ^e han Axed me,

Biht ful yntrewe to 30W have I be ; 196

Por I swor to jow w/tA-Inne y viij day,

Whanne ^e token for me that iomay,

I scholde 30W 80 worthily qwiten Ageyn

Thai al joure baronage scholde it knowen Certein. 200

Where-oflfe» vntrewe to jow I am,

And thus this pensifhesse On me it Cam.

Fortheremore, As by my qweene I lay,

T bethowghte me how Mani A day 204

That I hadde leyn In fowl sinne,

The fowlest ]jat Man Myhte leven Inne ;

And myn Consciense me gan to Bepr^ve

Of myn fals levenge & Of myn beleve. 208

And as I lay thus, Ss me be-thowghte

jif to Ony Man I hadde behyght Owghte ;

And I ne Cowde not thenken, sauf Only to |>*,

To whom that I haue so longe vntrewe be ; 212

And for wheche thing is most myn hevynesse

That bringeth myn herte In al this distresse.

For there nis now no man lyvenge

That I am so moche bownden to In Alle thinge, 216

Ne that so moche that I haue trespaced ynto,

As to 30wre persons now that I have I-do.

And what this yntrowthe it is to mene,

I schal 30W tellen ful wel & Clene. 220

It is ful trewe, As je don vndirstonde,
Whanwe I was discomfyt be myn Enemyes honde
At Tarabel, As 30 wel knowe,

Where as je Come?* w^t/i-Inne A throwe 224

Ajens Myn Enemyes to socowrew there,
Of whom pat I hadde Riht gret Fere,
Whanne to the Castel of Come pat I was gon, —
That tyme Oper Bocoiir hadde I non ; — 228

Thanne Comen 3e prckynge w/t/i 30wre Meyne
In Socowringe, fortheringe, & helpinge of me ;

CH. XVIII.] NASGIENS ADVISES MORDREINS ABOUT HIS DREAU. 235

ThanTte bebygbte I 30W tbo In Certein,

* That ^if eaere to Sarras I Myhte Eekeue^ren Agein 232

In worschepe & In prosperite ;

With-Innen .v^j. dayes aftir Certeinle,

I scholde 30W so worthily Gwerdone thanne,

That betters gwerdoned nas neuere Manne ;' 236

Where-offen the schame is Fallen On Me

Only, Sire, & not vppon the.

And for Cawse of this grete thowght,

Into this Ayicioun thas was I browght, 240

As I have told 30W, bothe Grope & Roote ;

Bat the signefiawnce, how to knowen, I ne woote ;

Now sethen that loseph is hennes gon,

Man me to declaren now know I non ; - 244

For, And he were here now present,

He cowde me declaren Al the hole Entent ;"

And for this Cause was he in gret thowht,

To what £nde this viciown scholde be browht. 248

And thanne be-spak tho Sire Kasciens,
That thike tyme was In the kynges pr^sens,
" For, sire, this viciown May Signefie
That 30 scholen In-to Anothir Seignorie ; 252

But je nete^t whanne, ne what day,
That this sodeynly behappen 30W May.
For, lik As 3e han chonged 30ure lif.
So scholen 30 3owre Eegne w/tA-owte/i strif ; 256

For Every Evel wil & wikked Cownsaille,
Eche man Owghte Forsaken Sawn faille ,
And Ellis diden we Contrariously
To Owre newe feith ful Sekerly, 260

Into hos Creaunse we han vsbownde
Bothe body and Sowle In this stownde.
Where-fore, As of 30ure Aviciown, now semeth me,
To non Evel may it tome In non degre. 264

But I rede 30W that 30 now do,
Cou/zseil Of holy Chirche to Clepen 30W to,

■nd h« promUt

tonwardhim
gensroQily
within 8 daja.

Bat h§, Xor-
drelns, didn't do
so.

Hence hii
trooblotu Dremm,

nhieh he knows
not bow to get
interpreted.

Needeni eajn
Xordreins's
Dream maj
betoken hia being
carried away.

tho* thia may
lead to no harm.

236 THB CHRISTIAN PRIESTS CAN't EXPLAIN MORDREINS*S DREAM.

XordraiiM bad Wheche that loseph left In his stede,

bettor take

ooaneei of Good Counseil thero-Olfeii sow now to hede. 266

Holjr Church. ^ , , i ,; ,

For ^e knoweri wel be yndirstondyngy

That loseph Comanded 30W Oner Alle thing

* Holy Chirche to kepen an Susteyne,

And In Every nede to hem scholde ^e Compleyne, 272

That Nedy were to sowle oper to body ;'

Thus Comanded he jow, ^e weten wel sothly."

He aad Naadena And whanne Nasciens this wordis had seid y,

Anon bothe to-Gederis tlianne gonnen they go 276

To the paleys Anon Of Spiritwelte —

As to-fom Behersid han ^e herd Me —

That Enstablyscht Ss Ordeyned weren Echone,

Holy Goddis Servise there-Inne to done ; 280

go and hear So that there herden they eoddis Servise.

iheChrieUan •^ ** ^

Service and Maw. And Afterward that Glorious Sacrifise,
As loseph hem Comau»ded before,
In what maner to Swen Cristes lore, • 284

And Every day for the More part Comowned to be ;
Thus Comanded loseph tho Certeynle.
And whanne this Servise was Al I-don^
To-fom him he Comanded to Comen Anon 288

xordreins teiu Alle the provostis of holy Chirche,

the Chttroh-pro- a t r t t r>t

voeu hii dream, And of hem took Counseil how he scholde wirche,
And told hem Clerly Al his Aviciou/t,
How that he dremede, Al and som. 292

bat none of them But Of hem was there not On tho

can explain It.

That theke Avisiown Cowde him vndo ;

For they Seyden him Certeinly,

* That there ne Cowde now Man but God Only 296

That Avicioon to declaren In Ony place,

Sawfe Only God thorgh his grete grace.'

And whanne the kyng & Nasciens herden of this,

Anon thens they wente/i with Owten Mys. 300

Thanne wente the kyng & Nasciens forth bothe
More hevyere thanne Er they weren forsothe,

CH. XVIII.] WONDROUS NOISES IN MORDRETNS's PALACE.

237

And [seide] that neue^-e In Eae they scholde bene
Tyl here-Offen they hadden vndirstonding clene ; 304
And thus pensif to the paleys Ajen gonne they gone,
They two togederis, right Alle alone ;
And there they Bested hem bothe that stownde
To-Grederis On A Cowche vppon the grownde, 308
And now More Feleschepe but they two.

Thanne felten they Anon Merveilles Mo,
How that Al the paleys Clene Alto-schook,
Sawfe y Sovereyn vowtis, As they Gon/?e look ; 312
And thanne loked they furthermore ;
Hem thowghte Al to-scheverid it was thore.
And In Every Chene hem thowghte they sye
Ful of brenneng brondis ful wittirlye. 316

Thanne so hydows A noise there be-gan,
As it was semeng to hem bothe than
That the Endeng of y world hadde be come,
And that it hadde ben the day of dome ;
So that Alle the wyndowes & walles to-brook,
So Merveillously tho this Noise Ontook.
Also hem thowghte the paleis schold han down falle,
And th^e Sonken Into the Ottrest walls. 324

And Amongs Alle this Merveillous thing,
There Cam On hem the wondrest dirkeneng,
That hem thowghte here sighte was gon Certein,
And that it neuere to Eecouerin Ageyn. 328

And non Men Of that Cite Certeinly
Theke Merveilles sion, nefer herden, but they
That with-Inne the paleis were ;
And herden they, ne sien, no more there 332

But Onliche Of that gret thondringe,
Where-Offen they hadden gret Meryeillenge.
And Othir thinges syen they nowht ;
But, As hem semode In here tliowht, 336

A fewe sparkelis At the Openynge
Of the Paleys wyndowes, they Syen Comenge ;

Mordrelnfl and
Naaclens go buck,
peiidve, to Saniu
Palace.

Then begin
Marvel*.

The Palace
quakee;

in eTciy chink
burning brandii
appear;

a hideooe noiae
{•heard.

320 MifDoonudaj
had come;

and the
wondreet
d^irkneM (alls
over them.

But onlj within
the Palace.

238

* THE BEGINNING OP DREAD ' IS PROCLAIUED. [cH. XYIII.

U ordr»ins and
Naadena hear
a tremeiidoiM
blast of a Horn,

and a volca eri«a

•*UereUthe
Beginning of
Dread."

They Ddl flat
down.

and Uordrelna
ii bonw-off 17
daji'jonmey
oat of his bed.

And jit they Abaschten ful sore of this,

What it Myhte Aniow[ii]te», witJi-Owten Mis. 340

And As the kjng & Nasciens lien In this tiawu;ice,
pi herden they A more 'wondirful Chawnce.
Hem thowghte they herde the Sown of An horn
That neuere they herden there beforu ; 344

And the sown was so wondirful & so hy,
That ou^r al the world they supposed trewly
The Noise Of that horn myht hauen ben herde.
So wondirfully that noise tho fere Ferde. 348

Thanne Anon A vois there Gan to Crie,
" Here is begynneng of drede Certeinlye."
And whanne tliis Nois they herde thus seyn,
Evene plat A down they fillen ful pleyn, 352

Lik bothe dede As they hadde J>ere been ;
Non lif In hem non Mihte Seen.
Thanne was the prophecie fulfild tho "
That be Olde dayes was knowen to Mo^ 356

Wheche pat seith, ' Two scholen liggen In a bed.
On be taken, J>" toper leven stille In that sted.'

Thus sone the kyng Owt of his bed was bore
Seventene lomes, be Goddis Myht thore. 360

And it was wel the thridde Oure of the day
Whanne to the kyng was Al this Affray ;
And whanne the holy gost hym left ful sone,
It was the hy Owre Of None. 304

But of him talketh now non lengere this stoiie ;
But to the qweene & Nascien Mosten we hye,
That bothe weren beleft In sarras,
As woful peple In that same plas. 368

CH. XIX.] QUEEN SAUHACYNTE RETURNS TO SaRRAS PALACE.

239

CHAPTEE XIX.

Nasciens (formerly Seraphe) lies swooning in bed. His sister,
Queen Sarracynte, on coming back to the palace from see-
ing a Church that is building for the Virgin, finds all the
attendants aswoon (p. 239). In the chamber she sees
Nasciens weeping, and asks him why, and where her hus-
band Mordreius (or Evalach) has gone. She swoons
(p. 240), and mourns. Nasciens assures her that Mordreins
is safe (p. 242). The barons consult about Mordreins's
absence (p. 242-3). Calafier, a traitor, suggests that Nas-
ciens killd him (p. 243). The others adopt this notion ;
go to Nasciens, question him (p. 243), and then cast him
into prison (p. 244). The queen is greatly grievd, but
cannot help her brother (p. 245) ; who holds to his faith,
and will not reproach God, but asks mercy for his sins
(p. 246-6).

Lo thus tellith this Story now here,

How Nasciens And the kyng, In A bed they were,

And how that the kyng was born Away,

And stille In Swowneng this Nasciens lay ; 4

And swich A Moreyne As In tliat paleis was,

Was Neuere Sein In non plas ;

And In the Cite Was herd no More

But the thondir & y sown of the trompe thore. 8

Thanne it happed In this Mene tyme —
The tyde Of y day Was Owr Of piyme —
That the qwene gan forto gon,

A faire Chirche Werk to beholde?* Anon, 12

That In Worschepe Of Ovae lady begonnen was there ;
And that chirche to sen wente sche In this Manere.
And whanne thorwgh that paleys sche gan to goon,
A wondirful Syhte Sawgh sche fere Anon, — 16

Alle the Seriawntes lyen thete plat adown
Ful dedlich & pale Al In virown ;
And sche wende On Slepe |>at alle hadde ben tho,
So that Furthermore sche gan to Go ; 20

Thanne Fonde sche Alle the knyhtes Ss Sqwiere,
In that Same Manere they lyen tho there.
Thanne Merveilled the qwene mochel of this,
What it scholde Amownten with-Owten Mis ; 24

While Uordraina
if borne away,
NaadeniUea
■woontng.

Queen SarnuTnte
comae back from
teeing a church.

and finds all the
■ervanta flat on
the floor.

and knJghU and
equlres ao too.

240 QUEEN 8ARRACY17TB FINDS MORDREINS HAS GONE. [cH. XlX.

Th« Qaeen edit Anon SoDime of hem sclie gan to Calle,

the HMD,

But thei mihten neper heren ne sen, so gan it fal,
but thiy an YoT nethlr hadden fei wit ne Memorye

dambfoundcd. ' "

Of no/i worldly thing thanne Certeynlye. 28

And whanne sche say, that not sche Myhte
Of hem nethir haven word ne syhte,
Thanne 'with A gret Cowrs tomed sche Anon,
sheiromto the And to the kynges Chambre gan to gon, 32

King'i chunber.

And whanne sche was Inne Atte Chambre dore,
There, Merveylles Gan sche beholden More ;

and tees N«Kiens gche beheld hire brother sire Kascien

Sat In his bed wepinge than, 36

Owt of wheche bed Mordreins the kyng
Was vpe lefte with Owten lesing ;

moaning. And fere Kasciens Made gret sorwe & Mone,

As him thowhte nedis he most done 40

For the Noise and y voys that he herde.
That he ne wiste In what maner it Ferde.
And whamte the qweene yia began beholde,

Her heart grows Anon hire herte can wexen Colde ; 44

cold; "

And sore tremeling & qwakyng than.

To sire Nasciens bed Anon sche Ban,

And wend that som wikked Sperit be chawnse

Hadd hem put Owt Of here Kyhtful Creaunce ; 48

And to hire brother sche Ean In haste.

And him Embracen sche gan ful faste,'

& the Cawse of him Axede, why it was

That he So wepa there In that plas. 52

Thanne gan he wepe wondirly Sore,
Fastere and harder^ than he dide before.

she criee aloud, Thanne Jj* qweene gan lowde to Crye

Wtt^ a lowd vois ful petowslye, 56

and fuii ■woon- And Swowneng to the Erthe fyl sche there.

ing to the earth. ^^ t . g^i

Thanne sire Nasciens Gan hire to Chere,

And brased hire In his Armes two,

And hire there kyste & Cherede tho • 60

OH. ZIX.] QUEEN SARRAOTNTE MOURNS FOR HER LOST HUSBAND. 241

" A, swete soster !" he gan to Say,

" What may jow be to Maken this fray 1"

And whanne sche Aros Of hire Swowneng ;

Thanne Axede sche of fat MenreilleDg ; 64

"With Sorewful herte & hevy Chere

Sche gan Axen where hire lord were.

And whanne Nasciens this yndirstood,
Ful Clene thanne Nasciens Chonged his mood, 68

That he ne Mihte non word tho speke,
So him thowhte his herte wolde breke ;
As faste the water Ban from his Eeyen Adown,
As it hadde ben pored vppon his Crown. 72

Whanne the qweene Say him so taken vppon,
Sche Axede what he hadde with hire lord doon;
Thanne gan sche forto Swownen ageyn
In that place there Certein Certein, 76

And wende Owt of hire wit sche scholde han gon,
Swich Sorwe sche Made, & so gret Mon.
Whanne Of hire Swowneng sche A-wook,
Sche qwaked, sche trembled, sche wepe, sche schook, 80
And with a deolful vois sche gan to Crye,
" Swete Brother Nasciens 1 " Certeinlye
Evene thus As A wood womman
In this Gyse took sche vppon, 84

And euere Aftir hire lord gan to Crie
With deolful vois, & wonderli hye.

And whanne Nasciens hire tolde Al the verite,
Thanne weping & momeng myhten men pere se,
And how the kyng from him was taken there,
And forth bom, & In what Manere ;
But Into what place fat he was I-bore,
Nasciens ne Cowde not tellen there. 92

Whanne Nasciens this word hadde I-seyd,
Thanne was there manie A deolful breid.
And Owthes & Cry was In that halle.
That bothe Men & wommen In swowneng gonne falle. 9 6

Sameynto

and uks wlieiv
her lord,
Uordrelns, tf.

NMeitnn can
only weep.

Sarracynto
■wooni again.

bat rtooTtra,

and erioe after
King Uordraius.

Naadena tolla
her how the
88 King wan
carried off.

A great cry
lirabd.

ORAAL.

16

242 NARCIEN8 0OMFOBT8 8ARRACYNTB. THB CUBflEO GALAPHERfC

And swich Sorwe y qweene there Made,

That Erthly thing mjhte hire non Glade.
Thanne Cam Nasciens to hire Agein,

And In his Annes he hir6 embraced ful plejrn, 100

And hire Comforted In thia degre,
Vmtrn " Now, goode dere Soster, lesteneth to Me ;
and aMorM btf The kyng he is hothe Sawf & Sownde

As we ben here In this Stownde, 104

MordrBiBi !■ And bothen heyl In Sowle and In body,

I Sey jow, Sostir, now, Certeynly.

This knowe I wel be that tydynge

That the voys to ts gan briuge." 108

Thanne Axede Sche Nasciens wttA-Owten lak,

* Ho it myhte be that to him tho spak.'
tMeaoMitwu Thanne Nasciens hire Answerid Ageyn,
Miucerwbo tpokt And seido it was Cristes Messenger Certein. 112

to them.

So gret Sorwe & Mone Made y qweene.
That for non Erthly man Seced myhte bene.
Thus sone this tydinge Gan forto springe
Ouer Al the Contre witA-Owten lettynge, 116

How that the kyng thus was I-lore,
And how sodeynly he was A-Wey I-bore.
Vordraini'i Thanne the baronage to-gederis Comen Anon,

about th« King*! And of this Conseilleden what they myht don, 120
diaapptaranet. ^^ ^^^ ^^^q fcyng Awey thus Scholde fare;

Where-Oflfen they hadde ful gret Care.

So Amonges AUe Othere there was On

That longe wttA the kyng hadde Igon, — 124

A cumd knight, A malicious knyht In Alle Manere,
Sir cauph«n, His name Was clepid Sire Calaphere —

For he was so Crwel, & so Felowns,

So fals, so Cvrsid, so wikked of Condiciouns, 128

That in dedly herte ne Myhte Synke

So moche Tretorye forto thenke,

As that Cursed Calaphere

In his herte Imagyned there : 132

CU. XIX.] THE BARONS BBSOLVE TO PUT NASOIENS IN PRISON. 243

For there he seide ful Openlye tho,

* That be treson Nasciens the king dide slo.
For he wolde haue/t y Rem In goueminge/ —

This was Openly his talkynge — 136

* For In that place weren there no Mo
Sauf Only the kyng & sire Kasciens tho ;
How myht it thanne Otherwise be.

But that Sire Nasciens dide hizn slel' 140

Thanne Answerid the baronage Ajen,

* That it is ful lyk thus forto ben.'
Thanne tooken they here Conseyl Anon,
That Into Strong warde he scholde be don,
Til that they knewen In word & dede tho
Whethir the kyng lyvede, ofer how it myhte go.
And to this Conseil thanne Everychon
Sworen alle to holden there Anon ;
And thus Of Nasciens demed they there,
That y kyng hadde Mordred, but J>ei niste where.

And thus to Cowrt they Comen Anon,
Alle these barowns Everichon,
And fownden Sire Nasciens & the qweene
Makenge gret sorwe Al bedene,
That Neu^e Man that was lyrenge
Herde neuere half so moche weymentinge ; 156

And this was the thridde day
Aftyr the kyng was Havischt Away.
Thanne thus to y qweene gonnen they gone,
And of this Aventure Enqwerid Anone. 1 60

Thanne Anon Kasciens gan forto telle
Alle the Mater, how it tho befelle ;
Bothe lik as he hadde herd & sein,
He gan hem tellen In Certein ; 164

And Also of the kynges Swevenywge,
What he Mette In his dremenge.
Thus to Nasciens they weren Enqweringe,
& of Al thing he jaf hem Answeringe, 168

■ays Naaelent
killd Mordrcina
po get hit
kingdom.

They ootunU to
put Natcimu ia
144 prison.

148 andawMrthvIl
doit.

152 TheBaroni
gotoNasdena
and fcha Quean

tlia Srd day after
U ordreini waa
oanidoll^

and qnaetfam
Maadana.

244 NASCIEN8 IS PUT IN PBISOX BT CALAFHERE's COUNSEL. [CH. XIX.

Tha Baroni tdi*

NMcieiu^

and eait htm
into prison.

by tlMeoonMl
ofCaUphiffib

who hated an
Ohriattaoa.

And seide to hem ful Sekerliche tho,

' That In the Chambre Neren but they two

Whanne this Chaunce there gan to falle ;'

And thus he tolde Amongs hem Alle. 172

Thanne Anon there they him tooke,

And Grevoosly On him gonnen to lok&

And sire Nasciens hem Axede tho,

« Why wiiJi him they Ferden so.' 176

Thanne they Answerede, & forth him ladde,

' That Buspocion to him Of the kyng they hadde.'

And thas In preson thanrie they him Caste,

& Sesid Alle his londis Atte laste. 180

Thanne senten they Abowtes here & there,

To don seken the kyng Every Where.

Thus Nasciens In preson suffirede mani hard schowr,

Be conceil of Calapher, fat fals Tretowr. —

This Calafer made good semblaunce

As a man Of good Creawnce,

But fals he was In dede Ss thowght,

For Cristene manne was he nowht ;

For whanne Cristened he schold han be,

Ful faste Awey he gan to fle,

For he ne hateth non Creature

So moche As Cristene, I the Enswre ; —

So that he Cam to y barouns Agein,

And hem thus Conceilled In Certein,

*That Into the tyme that they myhten knowe

Begynnefig And Endeng Vppon A rowe,

Nasciens In presown scholde Abyde :'

Swich Conseil ^af that tretour this tyde.

And thus be the Counseil Of fals Calaphere,

Nasciens In presown kepten thei there.

That him & his londis bothe, they hadde

In here Award, bothe good & badde.

And whanne y qweene beheeld Al this,
jhe thowhte In hire herte it wente Amys,

184

188

192

196

200

204

OH. XIX.] NA8CIENS, IN PRISON, CRIES MERCT FOR HIS SINS. 245

That lure lord thus was Agon,

And yerto hire hTofer In presoun don.

It is non nede to tellen the Mone

That y qweene ])ere made ful sone, 208

For there nas non Erthlj thing —

Aftir hire lord that was the kyng —

That so moche was In hire herte.

As of hire brothir his peynes smerte. 212

Ful fain wolde thanne this gode qwene,

That hire brothir Owt Of preson hadde bene ;

But sche was tho A lone womman,

And ful litel Eeed of this sche kan ; 216

To stryven Ajens hire Baronye,

Sche ne hadde non strengthe Certeinlie.

And £yere was Nasciens In preson strong.
And tempted he was with the devel Among
Forto forsaken there his trewe Creawnse ;
But he ne wolde, for non Maner Of Chawnse,
Forsaken his god for non peyne ;
But Euere to his God he gan Compleyne, 224

And Gride Merci For his grete Synne,
Of y wikkednesse that he hadde lyyed Inne :
** For moche more thanne this deservid I have ;
Where-fore, goode lord lesus, thow me save ! 228

For A gret Fool trewly I was.
Thy secrees to sen In that holy plas,
Wich that non Man scholde han seyn there,
But }if Glene Of Synne I-clensid he were ; 232

And so, goode lord, ne was not I ;
Where-fore, lesus, I crie the Mercy I "
And in this holy Entenciown

StiUe belefte Kascien In presown, 236

In gret Angwisch Ss gret Anoye,
Thus lyvede Nasciens, As I ^ow seye ;
Bothe be nyht and £k be day
In Una Angwisch thus Nasciens lay ; 240

BaiTMyiito
grieTM (TMtly,

but eumot litip
her broUkff
NMcUna.

NMctcnsIf
tempted bj
220 tbeDeril,

bat win not
forukeGod.

He aeks mercy
for bii liDi,

andiaya

be waa a great

Iboltotiyto

piy into the

aecreteof the

Holyazall.

246 OF KINO MOBDRSINS ON THE BOOK IN THE 8KA. [cH. XX.

And Eyere Cried God Of M^rcy

That he hadde leved so Folilj.
TiM story iM?M And now tometh this Storie Agejn
aitdtanistoKinf To kjng Moidieins now In Certein, 244

The wheche lest pat he ded hadde be ;

And thus is he In A Boch with-Jime the se.

CHAPTER XX.

The desoription and history of the Island to which King Mord-
reins was carrid; and herein of the Emperor Fompey*s
daring deeds. How the Isle was on the way from Scot-
land and Ireland to Bahylon ; and Wales and Spain could
be seen from it (p. 247) ; and how it was all bare rock,
and was calld This RoeKe Periiowt (p. 248); and on it
was formerly a house built by a pirate, Fowcairs, who
entiod ships ashore, and destroyd them and their crews
(p. 248-9) ; till Pompey heard of him, and prepard a ship
(p. 249) ; and attackt him (p. 260). The account of the
fight' (p. 250-5) ; — how the pirates let down a quarter of
a ship on Pompey *8 knights (p. 251) ; and the attack is
put off (p. 252). Pompey then determins to light a fire
at the foot of the rook and bum them out (p. 252). The
pirates try to put the fire out, but can*t, and the knights
kill four of them (p. 253) ; the rest nearly succeed in
extinguishing the fire, but Pompey drives them back and
kills five of them (p. 254). He is then attackt and swoons,
but is rescued. Fowcairs is taken (p. 254) ; his men are
thrown into the sea, and then he too (p. 255). How
Pompey did a stUl more daring deed, stabld his horses in
the Temple at Jerusalem (p. 255) ; and how he was rebukt
by Peter for it (p. 255).

xordraiiu b on Now hare he-gynneth kyng Mordreins Storie,
Mft, that yppon a Roche In the se is Certeinlye ;

that Owt of his Eegiown xviL lornees was,
With-Inne the se In A perilous plas. 4

Abowtes the Owr of Noon it was tho
pat there hy om whaniio the holisoost In bat Eoche put him tho :

UolyOhmt. a r mt

And there the holigost Schewed him thanne

Al BO mochel richesse as evere Sawgh Manne ; 8

* The French account for lines 244-334 differs considerably
from the English one : it gives more detail and incidents.

OH. XZ.] MORDBBINS ON HIS ROOK. THE ROOK DE80RTBD. 247

And whanne yppon this Boche he was alyht,

In his herte he was wondirly Afryght.

Whanne Abowtes yppon the Eoche he lookede tho,

And beheld how Into A straunge Contre he was I-do,

Where-Offen he thowghte tho In his herte 13

Neu^re that deseisse forto Asterte ;

And there-fore but litel wondir it were

Thowgh Sore Abasched were he there, 16

For )it hadde he non ful knoweng

That In the paleys he hadde of his sweyeny/;ge ;

And Evere he Merveilled In his^ thowht*

How that he thedir was tho browht, 20

And In him Self hadde gret Merveillinge

Ho that thedir dide him tho bringe.

And thus longe he gan.to beholde,

That Al his herte gan wexen Colde, 24

For non thing he ne Sawh abowtes hym

Bat the wilde Se, bothe Stowt & Grym,

And no more lond there ne was

Thanne fere the Boche stood In that spas. 28

This Boche stont A-Middes the se,
Al this Stone now telleth to Me,
Evene from Scotlond the Byhte weye
Into Babiloyne, As I the Seye, 32

And from Erlond the weye Also
Streyht to babyloyne it doth go.
And So hygh the Boche is there,
That Ou^ the Se I[8] sein Every where ; 36

And to Wales there Mihte he se.
And Into Spayne Into that partee 3
So hygh is the Boche In that stonnde
That kyng Mordreins there ha]) I-fownde, 40

For it is On of the most heyest plase
That In Ony Se Evere jit sein wase ;
And this yl So wastful Is,
That of non Maner viaunde there-Inne J^;-e nys, 44

Xordrefau Is
terrified when
he it Ml on U>e
Bock.

[1 XS thill

Hid henrt mvtwe
oold at Meelng
nothing but t!i«
wild Ma round
him.

The Bock Rtanda
between Scotland,
Irehmd, and
Balqrlon.

From It yoo
can see into
Wales and Spain,

so high is It.

Bat it is all
waste;

248 OF MOKDIIEINS^S ROCK, AND THE PIRATE F0WCAIB8. [cH. XX.

all vara rook.

■ndnoftrablt
Und.

IllnoBUd

J%«Eodt
PmrUou9,

Ponnerly a

Fowoain,

built thera

a big houM thai

htld fiO man ;

bat thay llTd
in a galley on
the MO.

and wera pirates.

They'd light a
great fire on the
Bock

Ke non Erthe that is Mevable,

But Al Clene Roche hard & stable ;

Except Y space Of A maiiTies hond,

In ^t place Is there non Erable lond ;

And Elles Into the harde Se,

Clene Roche As it May be.

And for that Roche Is so peiilows,

So hygh, so straunge, & so MerveiUous,

That '* the Roche perilows '^ is the Name,

For it Lb of So perilous A feune.

Yppon wheche loche sumtyme was diht
A Certein habitacle with gret Miht,
That A lerrers of the Se hyt Made,^
And Fowcairs to his name he hade.
This lerrers was of so passing Mesure,
And of so gret strengthe, I the Ensure,
That non Man his gretnesse Cowde discrie,
Ke his strengthe to haven In Memorie ;
So that In this Roche, for certein,
His habitacle he made ful pleyn ;
That So with Verray strengthe & Myht,
In that Roche his hows gan he dyht ;
A large hostel for twenty Men,
Thus he gan Areyened than ;
But In that Roche lay not he,
But In A galeye In the Se,-^
He, & hise felawes Also, —
Yppon the Se felonie to do.
And O^er whiles In Certein*
Vppon that Roche they wolden ful plein,
A ful gret feer wolden they make,
Here pray there-with forto take ;

48

52

56

60

64

68

72

76

' Et Bi li frema vns leres de mer qui estoit apieles fou-
oaires. — A Frenoh * Lerre : m. A theefe.* — Cotgrave.

* Et quant il faisoit la nuit bien oeour, si metoient sur la
roohe .i. grant brandon du fu ardant — A.

OIL XX.] THB BMFEROB POHFET IB TO ATTACK FOWCAIBS.

249

So tkit it semede to Ony Marckawnt

That theke plas dide Owht hawnt.

That Som Eeste;zg place it hadde be ;

But here distroction it was, As je mown Se ; 80

For A^ens that Eoch they hurtelid so sore,

That Alle to-borsten weren they thore ;

Thanne Owt of here galeyes gonr^ they go —

These thevis that this falshed hadden do, — 84

And tooken bothe fere Man & good

Xhat persched was there In theke flood :

And In this Manere distroied this lerren

Mani A Marchau/^t & Mariners. 88

Thanne be-fll A wondir Cas,
That On, Grete Pompees, that Emperour was
Of Eomeyns, As happed that day,
Of Alle these Merreilles herde he say, 92

As Owt of grece he seilede tho,
Toward Cecyle he gan to go.
And thus As he seillede Abowte,
And took many Garisouns, bothe strong & stowte, 96
That Abowtes be the Se stoode
In Ony place be y salt Floode ;
Thus Cam he toward babyloyne,
And thidirward of this thef herde he seyne. 100

Thanne seide this pompee with-Owten faille,
' That theke strong theef je scholen asaille.'
And thus to his peple gan he Seyn,
" We scholen him Asayen In Certeyn." 104

Anon there Eedily dide he dyhte
A riht strong galeie, & Of gret Myhte,
And put it ful of good vitaille,
And Of goode knyhtes, that thef to AsaiUe. 108

Anon whanne this was Eedely dyht.
The Se he took Anon there Eiht.
And fowrty goode knyhtes be^ ordcyned there, P Phe]
And twenty grete grapelis of Erne ]>ere were, 112

to tempt mer-
chantman there.

The ahlpe got
daeht to piecee.

andtheiea-
thievee plauderd
thecargo^

while the men
drownd.

Then Pompej,
Emperor of the
Romane.

ealUng from
Greece

towarda Babylon

rteoWd to atlae'x
Fowoain.

So he fitted oat
a good galley.

took 40 knighU
and 20 Iron
grapplM*

250

POMPBT ATTAOKB THK PIRATB FOWOAIRB.

[CH.

and idld to tlM

ClMifU]

Th«rath«j

Their Cmvtaiii
wouldn't go
where the fire
lighted}

bat on another

Then, a pirate
galley attackt
them.

but Pompey'e
•hip drove It
back to the
Rock.

The Galeyes to the Schip^ forto holde, —

Of yme weren Mad bothe strong & bolde ; —

And thus they gonncn to seylen Anon

As faste to the Boche as they myhte gon, 116

Bothe be day & Eke be Kyht,

Tyl of a hard roche they hadden a syght.

And whanne the Eoche they gonne to Aspie,
It to Apiochen they Seiled ful Nye ; 1 20

And whanne faste by they ir eren gon,
Heren Ancres thoy Gasten ^ere Anon,
Forto Abyden there that Nyht,
Til of the Eoche they myhte han better Syht. 124
And whanne y Kyht was wel Apast,
To- ward the Boche they Comen In hast ;
As Ny As a man Mihte Gasten A ston,
Thus Ny to the Boche Gonne they gon. 128

And whanne these thevis gonnen Aspie,
Bedeliche they Baped hem, & In hye.
But y maister Mariner that was wit/f pompee,
Of that Boch knew Al the Sotelte ; 1 32

And fere Ah the feer the thevis gonne Make,
That partie of the Boche wolde he not take,
But be Anothir side they wente,
fere As they fownden presente 1 36

A strong galeye, that there lay
Be-twene y Boch & hem, y sothe to say ;
And they Gome72 with so gret A wille
That there mani men gonnen to spille, 140

And filJen down Into y Se,
Of Men & good, ful gret plente.

Thanne they that In y tojere galeyes were,
Wenden the grete schipe hadde p^rsched ^ere ; 144
So was there tho A ful hard stowr
Botwene these Felowns and the Emperovr.
And wanne they sien it gan so to go,
Tho Enip^roMr to withstonde non power hadden tho,

CH. XJL] THB FIBATB8 DEFEND THBMSSLVEB WELL ON THE BOOK. 251

Be litel and litel they Gonne to gon,
Til that y Koche thej Entred Anon:

And whanne pompee gan this to Aspie,
Fal lowde he gan hem to discryey
And swoor that he wolde don his Miht,
Of tho theves to ben Avenged Ariht.
And whanne the thevis this Yndirstood,
Non lengeie there they ne Abood,
But to the heithe of the Boche Sekerlye,
Ful faste these thevis gonnen hem hye ;
And After hem xxx knyhtes goode^
That departed Owt of that floode ;
So with-Owten, thritty there were,
And with-Inne, xiz theves In fere ;
For alle the Bemnaunt of peae theves tho
Were/i slayn, And In-to the Se I-do.

And whanne this Sawt began to gynne,
These theves wrowhten A corsid gynne ;
They Boiled down I that plas
A qwarter Of a galeye ))at broken was,
That hevy & boistous it was to be-holde ;
And down it Cam vrith strengthe manifolde,
And fil Anon down Into the Se,
Where-with xL of Pompees knyhtes slow he,
Where-offen pompee hadde so gret Care,
Anon him Self to the Boche gau fare,
And swoor ' that he hadde levere to dye.
Bat avenged he Were there Otterlye,
That there so falsly hadde slain his knyhtes
At thike same tyme with here fyhtes.*

Thanne On of his knythes there Anon,
That say In what peryl that he wolde gon,
And Conseilled him " forto Abyde
Til it were more to the day tyde,
And I schal 30W Certefien Everidel
How On these theves to ben Avenged wel ;

149

Pompoj Towa
vengeanoeou
152 kiMPiratea.

15S

Th^retirdto
the top of th«
Book;

19 ThleTM
pnrsaad by SO
160 Knights.

164

The niieret
rolld down
168 ftquarter^jf
ftgmU«j,

172 •adklUdllor
Pompcj*t
KnighU.

176

180

AnothMT Knight

ndrto'd htm to
pat off his attack.

184

253 POMPET MAKES A FIRB TO BURN THB PIRATBB OUT. [CH. XX.

Thanne Bcholen 30 non men lese,
Ne putten ^ovrre self Into non gret deseisse."
Thanne Pompee Axede him Anon,
In What Manere that it Mihte gon. 188

** Sire, of this sawt 30 scholen A while reste ;
I hope it schal be for 30ure beste."
D p iM] But Evere they^ maden sorwe & wo,

For hise goode knyhtes weren slayn so. 192

He forto lesen so mani goode knihtes
For A fewe theyes In tho fyhtes,
Pompey wu Ful gret schame to him he thowhte it was,

athain'd to loM

•o manj knighu. His knyhtes SO to lesen In theke Gas. 196

Next mominff And On the Morwe whanne it was day lyht,
And Pompee of that Koch hadde A syht,
So strong A thing say he neuere non
As thike Roche that he loked vppon ; 200

* And non wondir it hadde ben,* seide he Anon,
' Thowgh his knyhtes hadde ben slayn Echon.'
he eontoitad Thanne of his knyhtes he Axede Counsaille,

hit Kntffhts.

* 3if to that Roche they Cowden Owght Ayaille ; 204

But non Of hem that was there
Cowde him Counseillen In non Manere ;
Thtj thooffht th« For they seiden to him Certeinle

Plntw moat l»

•tenrd oat But 3if be Enfamyne it* wolde not be.' 208

[> MS In] Whanne ]>* kyng of hem hadde non Oper chere,

He be-thowghte him In Another Manere,

That hem he wolde distroyen Anon

Be Angwisch Of fyr fere Eucrychon. 212

ButPompcy Ano« A gret fere he let there dyhte

Art lighted, Of Olde schepes And Galeyes, Jat brenden so bryhte,

That At theke Roche persched hadde been,

As all the peple there Myhte it seen ; 216

to imoke the So that tlus feor there brende so longe tho,

Pirates out of

their cere. That Alle the smolder Into pat kaye gan go ;

' Car il ne quidoient pas ke ele peost estre priae eaiui
afamer. — A.

OH;

]

THE PIRA.TES TRY TO PUT OUT THE PIBE.

253

For that feer to stawnchen hadden they non miht,

But Euere this feer brende ful lyht. 220

And they benethe gonne hem defende

With Arwes & stones that they gonnen yp sende ;

And they Aboven defensed hem thore

With speris & cleyves wondirly Sore. 224

And whanne this feer gan brennen so briht,
The thevis tooken firesch water Anon riht —
Where-Offen they hadden Som plente tho—
And In-to that Feer they gonnen it do ; 228

Thanne Alle the smoke & y flawme, I )>* plyht,
Into that Cave wente there Anon Eyht,
And they benethe schetten ful sore,
And stones vp threw with Engynes thore, 232

So that they slowen fowre of the felowns
That hadden don sweche distroctiouns.
And whanne these thevis Syen this,
Ajen to y Cave Jey wenten wit^Owten Mys ; 236
But fere weren they not wel at Ese,
So £vel this Feer it dide hem plese.
And whanne they seyen it Miht not be,
Alle Anon Owt of that kave gonnen they fle,
And wiiJi Alle here myht And strengthe ther
Thoy purposed to stawnchen this feer.
And thanne these knyhtes to hem Eomie,
And there sore begeringe they begonne ; ^
And the Felowns hem defendid sore,
As they that Maymed & Greved wore.

And whanne this pompee gan this beholde,
For deol his herte gan wexen ful Colde ; 248

And to that Eooch he hentred Anon,
To-ward y feer, As faste As he Cowde Gon.
Anon A3en to the Cave they gonne^i to Eonne,
For non lengere nolden they blynne ; 252

' £t li cbiualer lor laiasent courre : si se oombatolent moult
doreme&t a aus, — A,

whilt hit
■hot at tbtm.

ThePintM
threw vater on
the lira.

This made the
■moke in their
OATe worse.

Pompey** men
thai elew fuor
Thieves.

240 Thereat came
oat of the Cave
to pat tlie fire
oat»

244

bat Pompey

drore them
back into it.

254

POWCAIBS ATTACKS POMPET, BUT 18 TAKEN.

[CH.

Pompcy ttow ft
more Tkievat.

Th«ath«n
wouud«d liiiB.

But h» tod hit
Knitfhta drove

the Thieves
hock into |helr
cave.

They eww
Mlli'd oat»

nnA Foweairt
tried to thrust
Pompey Into
the Are.

Ponp^ swoond.

Fnwcairs's armi
broke.

and he was taken
prisoner.

And Pompe After hem tho sewede faste —

For to hem hadde he ful gret haste —

Where that ho of hem Slow there fyve ;

Thanne leften there hut xiiii On lyve^ ; 256

To wheche they benethen' schottei? ful sore,

& Manie of hem horten thore.

So that Pompe him-eelf hurt vrtth hem was

In thre stedis In that Same plas. 260

And whanne that this beheld Pompees knyghtes,

That he was so regorous In fyhtes,

Yppe to the Eoche they gonnen to wynne,'

To sosteine here Lord A^ens hem with-Inne ; 264

So that pompee fol Sore gan fyhte,

And drof these Felouns Into the Care Anon Ryht,

And putten hem AUe to Mischef,

Thike lerrers, that Errawnt thef. 268

And whanne this lerrers bethowhte him tho
That they ziiij Of On Man dispised weren so,
Owt they Comen Al On Ahrest ;
And this lerrers On pompees Faste threst, 272

And took pompees he bothe scholdres tho.
There In that Fer him forto hauen do ;
But he myhte not All}iig for his knyhtes,
But down Fillen they bothe Anon Byhtes. 276

But Pom|X)e there in Swowneng lay,
And bothen Armes of lerrers borsten, in fay.
Thanne they benethe Gonnen this beholde,
And to here Lord Bonne Manifolde, 280

And to the Schip they him gan here,
And In a Cowche they leyden hem there.

Thanne token they thys fals lerrers.
And him kepte As A thef So fers. 284

And AUe this whille fowghten the knyhtes
Vppon the Boche, and slowgh down Byhtes.

And In this mene whille Of fyhgteng,

Awook Pompee Owt Of his swowneng, 288

' So that 19 - 4 - 6 = 14 (!). ' 7 aboven. * HS wynee.

CH. XX.] POMPST CASTS THE PIRATES INTO THE SEA.

256

Where-offen his Meyne ful glad they were,

Whanne that he was Recouered there.

Thanne Merreilled Pompe wondir sore

How that In the Schipe he Cam thore ; 292

Thanne his Meyne gan him to telle,

In what Maner and how ))at he felle.

Thanne this pompee vp Eos Anon,
And Ajen to that Boche gan he to gon
With a fnl good strong Spere In honde,
Where-with he wrowhte J)* theves schonde
And to that Cave he Entred Again,
And there with-Inne he hath hem Sla3m, 300

And there threw hem Into the Se,
The Fysches Mete Al forto be.

Thanne Cam he to the Schipe Again,
Where-Offen his Meyne was ful fayn. 304

Thanne Comanded he to taken this lerrers,
That was a theef So strong and fers,
To bersten bothe;» his thyes and Ek his bak,
And Into the se Casten him with-Owten lak,
Thus deliuered thanne Sire pompee

#

That Eoche Of felowns, As I telle the.

And to Eome seilled he streyht Agein,
As I telle 30 w now for certein ; 312

And from Eome to Jerusalem he wente,
Where that he stablede his hors presente
In the holy temple Of Owre lord.

Thanne to him Cam seint Petir At On word, 316
And seide to hym In this Manere :
** Pompee, thow forsakest thi maneres here,
And dost moche wers thanvie dide lerrers, —
That was a felown bothe strong and fers, — 320

Thy stable thus here forto Make
The heyest hows, that for goddis Sake
Was mad to don Inne hia Servise.
Now thow fat hows gynwest to dispise, 324

Pompey rerlrd

onb«Mrdhli

•hip;

296 w«iit ■gain to
the Rock,

and thrsw all tli«
Pirat«M Into tti«

Tlien he had
Fonrcairs's thl;?ha
and his back
broken,

308 and his body east
into the

Pompey then
•aild to Bouie ;

and then
to Jerusalem,
where he stabld
his horses in the
Temple.

St Peter

rebnk'thim

for it,

and said he was

worse than

Fowcairs.

256

OF MOBDRBINS ON 'THE ROCK PERILOUB.* [CH. XXI.

Pompcy then
bft Jwruaalein,

and b«d0 hit
men not talk
ofhla vengeanoa
on the Plraia
Fowcmin.

Wherfore I may wel liknen the

To Forcaus, that felown aire, perde,"

Thanne from Jerusalem ^ts pompe wente.
And charged Al his Men wit goode Ente[nte]y
* They scholden neuere Of this forcaus speke,
In what maner On him he was A-wreke ;
For to him hadde it hen gret yelonie,
Yppon A thef to han set his hoi Navye ; '
For it was On of the grettest prowesse
That Evere dide y Emperowr In Ony distresse.

328

332

334

ElngMordrrint

ilto, mltenbla,
on hie Rook,

CHAPTER XXI.

Of Mordreins (Evalach) on "The Rock Perilous," and the

woDden he saw there (p. 256). How Mordreins is in

/ great sorrow (p. 257), and while he is weeping he sees a

Nss^ilver ship approach, with a fair man on board (p. 257),

/ who lands, and talks to him ; says he is a crafty man

/ (p. 258) ; and his name is ' On. & Al. Only.* (p. 259). He

comforts the King (p. 259) ; and tells him that God has

not forgotten him, but will give him all he asks for (p.

260). The ELing is so joyful that he is almost in a trance

till the ship and the good man vanish (p. 261). Mordreins

concludes that the man came from God (p. 261). He then

sees another gorgeously coverd ship arrive (p. 262), from

which a lovely woman lands (p. 262), who talks with him,

and asks him to be lord of herself and her lands (p. 263),

and tempts him to forsake his new faith, telling him of

the danger Nasciens (Seraphe) is in (p. 264), and of the

evils that will befal him — Mordreins — if he stops iu the

island (p. 265).

Kow Of this EmperoMr let we now he,

And Ajen to this kyng now torne we,

That into this Eoche Is now I-hrowht,

And In what Maner ne Wot he nowht. 4

And there sit he In pensifnesse & In deseise,

& With him non thing J)at may him plese ;

And faste Ahowtes ho loked him there,

iVy and tea alone But heveno & the SO he ne sawh nowhere ;

about htm. _

Ne non sustenance there ne was,
But Al disolat In that same plas ;

8

CH. ZXI.] MORDREINS SEES A SILVER SHIP COVE TO HIS ROCK. 257

Also, dwelling was there non,

But hydows & steme that Eocli of ston ; 12

And On fat Eock was there non weye

But A path that to y Cave wenten sothlye.

Thanne loked he vppon the tothir side ;

He ne sawh non Comfort In that tyde, 16

But dirkenesse & hard Hoche there.

Thanne set he him down wit/i hevy Chere,

And be-gan to sighen fill sore,

To wepen & wringen ^it wel more. 20

Thanne Ano;) thowghte he In his herte —

Whiche thowght him myhte not Asterte —

That Owre lord him hadde forgeten Clene,

That he there so Was browht In tene. 24

And thus as he was In this momeng,
The water Of his Eyen Cam renneng :
Him thowghte ]>at the wawes of pe se,
A wondirful Noise Maden hee ; 28

And as he lokede tho him Abowte,
He saw Come seilling A schipa wel stowte ;
The wheche schipe was ful of Bowte,
And A wondir fair Man there-Inne to be,
That to-fom In the schipe him thowhte he was,
Sitteng Al-gate In that same plas ;
And toward that Roche he drow ful faste,
Til that to the Hoche he Cam Atte laste. 36

The schipe, Al Of Silver it was,
The Naylles Of gold In that plas ;
And In Middis Of that schipe was there
A fair Crbis In that Manere. 40

And whanne this schip to ]>* Eoche gan Aplye,
Alle the swete savours him thowhte sekerly
That Evere weren groweng In Oni plas.
Him thowhte that In theke schipe tho was. 44

And whanne the Crois he gan to Aspie,
Anon In his herte he thowhte In hye,

ORAAL. 17

Than*! only one
psih on tlM Book.

Xordralna tight
andwttpt,

thinka Ood hat
dran Corgotten
him.

Than he toot a
btaatiAil thip,

32 withamott
fkirinanon
board,

oomt to the Bock.

Anilil the thlp
it a Croat.

258 A GOOD >1AN VISITS VORDREINS ON THE ROCK. [CH. TTf,

That non wikked thing ne myhte be

In plas ]>ere the Cros was Certeinle. 48

The fUr man 0 wt of the schipe Cam this faire man tho.
And the kjng A3ens him gan go :

xordreint " SiTtf," he seidc, " wclcome 3e be

PMf i9j Into this plase now Certeinle 1 '* 52

And with that he knelid a-down,
" Welcome Sire, hidir, Of Renown ! "
Thanne Axede this fair Man Certeinle^
" Sire, Of what Contre now be 30 1 " 56

Thanne Answerid the kjng, & seide tho,
" A Cristen Man, Sire, I am here, lo."
Thanne Axede him this goode man tho,

* In what Maner he gan thedir to go.' 60
Thanne Answerid the kyng Ageyn,

" Sire, I wot Neuere now In Certein."
■aduksbim Thanne the kins Axede him ful snelle,

who h* la. ° '

Whens ]>at he was, he Wold him telle. 64

Thanne Answerid the goodman him Agein,
« A cniij Mas, ** Sire, A Crafty Man I am Certein,

That nowher non swich Is, in non Centre,

So sotel A man As 30 here now Se ; 68

For sweche Craftes As I kan do,

Of Alle men In Erthe konnen it no mo.'*

Thanne Axede the kyng Of him there,

* What Maner thinges tho Craftes were.' 72
who can nukt He seide, " that 0 wther fowl man Oper fowl wommai/.

Into Crete bewte he cowde tome than ;

fools, wiM} AJso A fool, A Wis man kan I Make ;

poor, rich ; A pore Man, gret Hichesse to take ; 76

And a low Man kan I Maken hye,
I seie the. Sire, Certeinlie."
" K'ow Certes, Sire," tho quod the kyng,
" This may wel ben A Wondirful werkyng : 80

Now, worthi Sire, And it 30wre plesing wolde be,
jowie Name that 3e wolden tellen me."

CH. XXI.] THE GOOD MAN COMFORTS MORDRKINS.

259

88

92

" Sire, Gladly, Er I hennes wil gon,
My name to tellen the Anon, —
* • On • & • Al • Only • * it is Mi Name,
Sire, I the eeie wit^-owte» blame."

Thanne quod' the king, "sire, Certeinly
That is a Fair Name, and A ful hy.
Sire," quod the king wit^ mylde vois,
'* Me semeth, as be the signe Of y Crois
That 3e haven In 30WT6 Compenie here.
That to Jesus Crist Affiawnce je here."
** That is soth," quod this good man tho,
" For with-Owten him non goodnesse May be do ;
And ho ))at the signe Of the Crois In his Compeni have.
From Alle perilles he may ben Save. 96

Therfore be war, I rede now to the,
That what peple so Evere thou se,
But 3if the signe of y Cros be hem Among,
With hem thow talke, I Bede, not long.'* 100

Ful Mochel spak this goodman tho
To the kyng that In the Koche was I-do ;
Sweche wordis Of Comfort to him he spak,
That Alle his hevynesse he gan to forsak ; 1C4

Kethir Of Mete ne drinke he ne thowhte ;
In so mochel Joye this good man him browhte.

Thanne Axede him the kyng tho,
' In what Maner he scholde do, 108

And whethir he scholde fere long Abyde,
Owther thens to Gon with-ln schort tyde.'
<< Ne seist thow," quod this good man Ageyn,
" That thow belevest In God Certeyn 1" 112

" 3e forsothe. Sire," quod the Kyng,
** And that I do Ou^* Alle thing.
Only & Al In him I beleve.
Of wheche schal non man me Eepreve." 116

'' Sethen thanne that thow dost so,"
Quod the good man A^en to him tho,

34 *"<^ <°7 nam« 1«
*' One and All
Only."

Beware that yon
talk to no folk
who haven't the
■Ign of the CroM
among 'em.

And asyta
believe In God.

260

THE GOOD HAN GITES MORDREINS ADVICE. [CH. XXI.

be ran that
He nrill not
l\>i|^t > oa.

Whoerer patt hit
trutlnOod,

■hall h«Te
whatererbe
pray* for.

Let him not
beanxlooa,

or hall lUl Into
daapalr.

aa yon hare
done.

Bat chansfa
your mood.

aet your heart on
tb« Trinity.

" Ful Sekir thanne Mihtest pon be,
That he ne wel Not Foi^eten the, 120

Ke noD that In him hath Bemembraunce,
In what degre he be, Other In what stawnae.
In sekir, sere king, I telle it to. the,
That God ne^ wil not forjeten the ; 124

And therto, what thing ^t thow wilt Crave,
Sekir to be, thow myht it have.
Sire, tak thow al tliis for verite,

Al that Euere now I haue told to the ; 128

For who that In God doth putten his Creaunce,
Him may not faille with-Owten variance,
That he ne schal haue, At his nede.
Of Alle thing that he wele him bede ; 132

For man hath he In so gret Cherte,
Of non thing so moche, I telle it the.
Therefore man, On him to taken non thing I rede,
But swich thing As God him bede ; 136

And 3if A man In him Self to Moche thenke.
And with distorbilons Maketh his herte to swenke.
So myhte he fallen I[n] disperaunce ;
Swich a thing myhte ben his Chaunce." 140

" Now, good sire," quod the King tho,
** May I thanne Only to God trosten vnto,
Of alle thing that me nedith to have.
Other what thing that I wele krave ; 144

And that God wele thenken On Me,
Trowe je, sere, that this wil be 1 "
" A, sire," quod this goode man tho,
" Lo, now In disperaunce J)ou Art I-do, 148

That thenkest & seist As thow dost here,
In-to A fowl disperawnce pon fallest there.
Therefore I rede the, Ouer Alle thing,
That Into bett^e Conseille )>in herte fou bring, 152
And Oner Alle thing I rede the,
Thin mynde thou sette vppon y Trenite ;

*MSwe

CH. XXI.] THE GOOD MAN AND HIS SHIP VANISH FROM SIGHT. 261

And have Minde how Salamon the kyng

To his Sone Evere ^af teching, 156

* That Evere God to worschepe scholde he,

In what maner place that so Evere he be :

Thanne dar the dredyn Of non thing : '

Thus 3af Sampson to his son lerneng." 160

In the mene whille that this good Man
Of the Schip? to the kyng Spak than^
The kyng so loyful Of his worrdis was,
As he hem 'herkenid In that plas, 164

So that he fyl In a gret stodye tho.
And Merveilled how this thing myhte go.
And whethir It were In A dremenge,
Owther where that he was slepinge. 168

And thus A long tyme he him thowhte
In what maner that he thedir was browhte,
Of wheche he Cowde knowen non Certeinte
Of this Mater 3it In non manere degre. • 172

And whanne Owt of this thowht he gan to gon,
To his kende Memorie he Cam Anon,
And abowtes him he lokede wel faste,
But he ne Cowde weten how he Awey paste, 176

For Kethir Of Schipe ne Man he Say,
Whech that to him Aperid that day.

And whanne bothe Schipe & man was Agon,
Into A gret Momeng he fyl Anon ; 180

But In his herte he thowghte ful Certeinlye
That thike man From God kam An hye ;
For he wiste wel be the Signe of the Crois
That it was Only be goddis voys ; 184

For And he hadde been A dedly man,
He Cowde not han Spoken As he dide than.
And Also he wiste Ful Sekerly,

He Cowde not han gon Awey so previly 188

jyf Erthlich Man he hadde I-ben,
Other wise he scholde han him seen ;

Remember
Solomon'e words,

'•Worship God
everywhere;

end yoQ need
liMtr nothing."'

Mordreini li so
r^olct that he
fklle into K browD
etndy.

And when be
wakes up,

he can't tell how
the Ctood Man haa
pasat away.

But he thinks
the Man oame
firomOod,

and waa not
mortal.

262 A LOVELY WOMAN VISITS MORDREINS ON HIS BOCK. [CH. XXL

thtOMMUMUMr

Bblp oomlnff to
hit Bock,

njiQj Adornd,

bot no oiM
abla on board.

Howorar, whan
ItsvUiotiM

th«lor«li«rt
woman on faat
it^ioaloflti

and graett
Mordralna
•weatly.

"Wherfore his herte was moche the more
On god In Al his werkis thore.

Ful longe In this thowght y kyng Abod ;
Other whiles he sat, & Ofer whiles he stood.
He gan to loken vppon the lefte partye.
And thus Sone he gan to Aspie,
He Sawh where Cam a schip Anon
Toward the Eoche Forto gon ;
That Schip6 was wondirly fair^ A-dyht^
As him thowhte to his Syht ;
And per nas non thing Ahowte,
Bat Kialy keuered with-Inne & wtt^Owte ;
Into the harde wawes Of the Se
That Schip^ was keuered ful Certeinle ;
But nethir Man ne womTTian Co^de he se,
That Schip to Goveme In non degre.
And At the Eoche it Ary ved Anon
Also swithe as it Myhte gon.

And whanne the king gan tliis beholde,
He merueilled per-oSen Mani folde,
What thike Schipe ^liht signefie.
That to the Eoche so faste gan hie,
And what maner of thing it sowhte there.
That thedir Cam In swich Manere ;
And Evere this Schipe he beheld there,
And of the Aray Alle the manere.

Thanne sawh he there isswen Anon
The fairest womman that of feet myht gon :
Thanne the kyng Abaisched he was
Of thike MerveiUe In that plas ;
Keucrtheles jit he seide, " Welcome je be.
Faire womwian, Into this Contre."
Thanne Answerid sche Agein,
" And je ben welcome, Sire, Certein,
As man that I most desire to se
Of Alle men levenge, I telle it the.

192

196

200

204

208

212

216

220

224

on. XXI.] THE FAIR WOMAN TRIES TO TEMPT MORDIIEINS.

263

Eualach," seide this lady the,

" Al my lyve ^it hider-to, 228

So gret lust I haue to spoken vrith the.

And now Am I glad I may the se ;

And now thow Art in this plase here,

With the to speken I schal haue leysere ; 232

I schal the lede, and thow wilt gon with me.

Into y fairest place that euer man May so."

" Now Certes, dame/' quod the kyng,

'* I m^rveille me mochel Of myn hider Comeng, 236

For I not ho that hedir me browhte,

Ke nethir sen him neuere I ne mowhte,

Ne neuere hennes ne wil I go,

That til Ajen lie me wil Comon to, 240

That me In to this place browhte ;

Oyer wise cam It not In to My thowhte."

" Be my trowthe, sire," quod sche thanne,

" 3it spekist thow As A trewe Manne, 244

For I tlie browhte Into this plase,

To speken with the, for I wolde han space ;

And be me hens schalt thow go,

And be non Other, troste wel tlierto. 248

And jif thow wilt not forsaken my Compenye,

I schal the bringen to hygh seigno;<rie.

And maken the Lord Ouer Al my lond,

Which that I holde In Min honde." 252

" Dame," quod the Kyng to hire Agayn,
" Of this wolde I wetew ful fayn,
What myht je han forto do

Az now 36 sein me Tnto." 256

" Be my feith," quod sche, " Sire," Again,
" Of that power I Am Certein,
To beren A body where ]>at my liking Is,
And thens him to fetten w/tA-Owten Mis." 260

" Dame, I vndirstond thy talkyng ;
But a man of a more wondirful werkyng

The Fair Womiin
offara

to take Mordrriiw
away with bar.

Sh« nja the

brought him to
the Bock to talk
tohixni

and if hem
hold to her,
■he'll bring him
to honour.

flbeeaamoTea
body where she
likee.

2G4

Tn£ PAIR WOUAN SATS NASCIEN8 IS TEBT ILL. [cH. XXL

[1 MS quod
Boabeh]
ShtMjr*
Mordniiu ts ft
fool 10 tea
Chrirtbu).

Htllntm-bt
In pMot white
h* U on«.

NMeltnaii
d«ns«roatlj UL

Hljt know* It
M w*U M thai
Mordnlns was
aanldawaj
from him.

Mordrolni ntarly
&1U into daapair.

Have I herd Sein Certein there is.

That kan don moche more than this, 264

For he kan Maken of Fowle men faire ;

Of Folis, wise men & debonaire ;

And Pore Men, to ben Eiche In £ch degre :

This Man A Maister, me thinketh, is he ; 268

And this May non Man don, Certeinle,

But jif ])• signe of J)* holy Cros with him be."

'* A 1 Eoalach," quod^ this womTTian thanne,

" Thow Art A fool, & non wis Manne ! 272

Thow Art desceiued In thy beleve ;

And that Anon I wele the preve.

For As longe As thou boldest this Creaunce

Of wheche thow hast Mad variawnce, 276

In pes ne Reste Schat thow neuere be

WMIes that beleve Is In the ;

For thou knowest not ^it the Endyng

Of thi Sorewe, nether the begynneng ; 280

For thi Brothir, Sire Seraphe,

In thi paleis lith in ful hard degre,

That it Asckapen neiif>re schal he,

But jif it the more wondir be." 284

" A ! dame," quod the kyng Anon,

" How mown je knowen swich thing be don ] "

" For," quod sche, " I knowe this As wel

As thi selven Everidel, 288

How thow were left Owt of thi bed, #

& he A-bod stille In that sted."

Thanne the kyng Abasched him sore
For )>• wordes he herde thore, 292

And was Aferd lest his brother scholde die,
For tokenis that sche seide so Certeinlye.
Thanne King Eualach Anon with-Alle
Nygh In wanhopo hadde I-fallo, 296

And wende that God had him forgoto.
So this womman Made him tho dote.

CH. ZXII.] THE FAIR WOMAN TEMPTS MORDREIKS TO GO WITH HER. 265

Thanne seide this womTnan to him tho :
" Eoalachy and thow my wille wilt do,
I schal the setten A3en In-to thi lend,
And Al waLthes bringen Into thin hond.
For wete thow, Eualach, In Certein,
Owt of this plase gost pon not heyn,
But jif it be Onlich by me,
Owt of this plase schalt pou neuere fle ;
And here schalt thow Enfamyned be.
And many mo wondiis ^it schalt pou se ;
For 3if thow longe here Abyde,
Thy wittes schalt pan lesen pia tyde.
And ^if that thon wilt gon with me,
A gret lord schal I Maken the j
And ^if thow wilt hew lengere dwelle,
Thow schalt be lost, bothe flesch & felle."

300 Th« Fair WoBum
offan Vordniai
•aft ntnrn hooM
and wealth.

304

308

312

ifha'Ubotdo
harwUL

Ifnot^ha'U
baatanrd.

CHAPTER XXII.

Still of the wonders King Mordreins (or Evalaoh) saw on the
Rock Perilous (p. 266-276). How he asks the Fair Woman
oat of the ship, where he is, and how far off from his land
(p. 266) ; hut he will not go with her ; and how she sails
away. How he sees a great tempest rise (p. 267) ; and
how he thinks over the woman's prophecy of his misery,
and over his former greatness (p. 268). How he looks
ahout for a place to sleep in, and finds the Cave ; but, on
trying to enter it, is struck down (p. 268). How he sees
a great tempest ; and then a great darkness comes, and he
lies all night in a swoon. In the morning he is awoke by
the rays of the sun ; he makes the sign of the cross (p.
269), recovers his senses, and prays to God. He then sees
again the first ship (p. 270) ; and the Good Man lands
from it, greets him, and preaches to him about his want
of faith (p. 271) ; of how God helps his servants (p. 271-
272) ; of Uie difference between the flesh and the spirit (p.
27.3) ; and of the members of the soul (p. 274). Mordreins

• then asks him about the Fair Woman (p. 275) ; and he
aiys that she strove to become lord over him, and so he
cast her out of his house, for which she tries to enrage him
by evil doing (p. 275). [The fall of Lucifor.] The good
man exhorts Mordreins to hold to Uis Saviour, and then
no good thing shall be wanting to him (p. 276).

266 THB FAJB WOMAN URQBB MORDRfilKS TO OBEY HBR. [CH. XXII.

[iMfM]

MwdnHnB
dottbta wImUmt.
iMtluUlgo
with th« Fair

H«MkilMr

whan Im la.

off jonr kingdom.

And lalon*
can Uk* 700
back.

Thanne sat this kyng in gret stodying,
And tbowhte what to don of al this thing ;
Whethir with that lady he scholde go,
That Bche seide so wel him louede tho,
And therto so ful of Sapiense,
Lyk As sche wede In his presense.^

Thanne Eualach Clepid this worn man tho,
And Axede hire ' jif sche Cowde Owht do
To tellen him In what plase pat he were ;
And how fer from his londis there.'
'' }e/' quod this womman tho Anon Eiht,
" Al this schal I the tellen Astyht.
Of port peryl this Eoche bereth the name,
A perilows Eoch, And Of gret Fame ;
And Owt of thy kyngdom Art thow here
xyii. dayes lomees, Al In fere ;
For A gret lome for A schipd it were,
In a Monthe & .ix. dayes from thens to ben here.
So that there schalt thow neue^'e haue dwellynge

8

12

16

20

24

Do my bidding,
and ru bring
yovL to a
deiightftd place."

But ^if so be that I thedyr y bringe."

Thanne Abasched was he mochel more

Thanne he was Ony tym be-fore,

That he was so fer from his kingdom

I-browht In-to A straunge Eegiown :

Thanne In gret thowht sat this kyng,

And ])ere made mochel Momeng.

Thanne seide this womTTian to him tho,

" Sire Eualach, wherto thenken ^e so 9

jif je wilen don Aftir My biddinge.

Into a ful delitable plaso I schal the bringe ;

And jif thow wilt not don as I the seye,

Many wondir happes schalt f ou han In feye ;

And so Manie Combrawnces scholen Comen to y,

That with-Inne ful schort tyme schalt pon se,

' et qui de si grant sapienche estoit plain e, ke ele li disoit
chou qui li estoit auenu, et chou qui 11 deuoit enohore
auenir. — A ? wede, L 6, /or semede cr ^ede.

28

32

CH. XXII.] THE FAIR WOMAN LEAVES. HER SHIP 18 0VBRTI7RND. 267

So fat pou wost ben hid in y most Ca3rtifes plase
That Evere On Erthe ^it Mad wase." 36

Thanne the kjng Abasched him sore,
That to hire wordis mihte he speke no more.
And whanne sche saj pat it wolde not be,
That Answere mihte non (jetten sche, 40

Sche torned hire Schipa, and Gan to go
Streyht A^en Into the highe se tho.
Thanne Anon the king Cast yp his bed.
And saw where sche seiUede In that sted 44

Per Amjddis the grete throwe;ige se,
Where that grete Merveilles Anon say he ; —
The grettest tempest him thowte was there^
And tbe Moste wondirful that was o-where ; 48

So that him thowghte pat Al the Se
Oner Al the world schold ban be ;
And In Middis Of that tempest,
There was the Schipe Althermest. 52

Thns Sone there Cam A wyndes blast,
And that Schipe there Oner Cast.
And As the kyng On p* Eoch there sat.
With his Eyen he beheld Al that, 56

And wondred mochel In his thowht
What schipe it was that the womman browht.

Thanne this kyng bethowhte him tho,
That Of him self it was Evel I-do 60

That he ne hadde Enqwered what sche hadde be,
& what hire Name was, & Of what Centre ;
For he here supposed neuere to se,
Therfore here Name haven knowen wolde he. 64

Thanne of hire wordes sore he thowghte.
How that In Eeste he scholde be nowhte
As long as he held that Creaunse ;
Ful Often he thowghte vppon this ChauTMje ; 68

And For sorwe of this tydinge
He ne wiste to don non thing.

Mordrefns won't
Aiuwer th« Fair
Woioan't ft^pMb.

Sosbtiaito
airaj.

A terrlfle tomptst

riMS.

•ad apMts Iinr
■hip.

Mordntna

thlnkf oyer
her words,
that aa long as
he's a Chriatlan,
ha'U nevar be in

268 MOBDBBINS GOBS tSTO THE CAVE, AND IS 6TBU0K DOWN. [cH. XXn.

Mordreln* thinks
OT*r hia fonatr
tkhMtad
bonoor.

•ad hU ■oflMnffi

■IBM Im'i bMD

ftChriatliii.

HtfOMinto
th« GftTt on
tkMBook,

Thanne gan he to Bemembren him Anon

How worthily he was wont to Gon, 72

Of his Richesse, & Of his honoure,

And On his lordschepis In that stownr ;

And sethen he thowhte thanne A)en

In what p^rsecucioun he hadde ben 76

Sethen Cristen Man that he was,

What he hadde Su£fred In dinars plas ;

And thus In disperawnce he gan to falls

Tyl A^ens the Niht Sore wtU Alle. 80

Thanne he bethowhte him Anon,
How that On J wyse he mjhte don ;
For the Roche was A wastable plase,
And non Resteng ther6-Inne Nas. 84

Thanne fond the king the grees there riht ,

That to thike Cave wente ful streiht,
Whiche was bothe fid dirk & blak,
& hidows On to looken wit^ many A lak ; 88

For long tyme was it past be-fore
That Evere Ony levyng man was thore.
And to hym self he gan to seye,
" Sekerly, with-Owten wile I not lye, 92

But entren I wiele Into this Cave,
There-Inne Min herberwe forto have."
And the ferste foot that with-Inne he sette.
Plat to the Grownd he was smette ; 96

For bim thowhte that On with two hondis him took,
And Evene to therthe there him schook.
And thus lay the king In swowneng In ])ts Manere
Thorwgh the Fal that hq hadde there. 100

WhmiiereviTM And whanue of his swowneng he A-wook,

Vppon the Entre Of the Cave he gan to look ;

And thus As he In this thowht gan dwelle,

A wondirful tempest there befelle, 104

That bim thowghte the wawes of p* se

Into the hevene wolden fle,

and ftt th« first
•t«p It smitton
to the ground.

wh«rt b« Um
•irooning.

hi MM a wonder-
fill t«mpwtp

CH. ZZII.] MORDREINS BETTYBS IN THE MORNIKO. 269

And Al to-berste botlie lond & ston :

Thus him thowghte therd Hjht Anon. 108

Thanne Cam there so grete A dirknesse «nd th«n a tuek

That browhte him in moche distresse,
That him self he ne mjhte not se
No more thanTte In A pit he hadde I-be. 112

And whanne Of alle thinge he hadde lost ])* siht,
And ])at non thing he sen ne myht,

More Abasched thanne he tho was, h« ii tmiUy

Was neu6re Man 3it In non plas ; 116

But Aftir this gret drede Anon,
Good Comfort to him was sent ful son.
And whanne In this dirknesse he hadde longe be,
And for drede lost bothe wit & Memore, 120

He ne wiste for drede what to do,
And In this thowht longe Abod he so.

And al the n jht lay this kyng •^ nigbt.

As In Maner he hadde ben In Sowneng, 124

That from him Self he was ful Clene,
For On him non Otherwise ne was it sene.

And whanne that it was goddis wille. Bat in um

morning Um

The Clemesse Of day there to folfille, 128 nm-bMnu

And the hemes of the sonne Bryht

Into^ Alle the Erthe it schon ful lyht,

The kyng that vppon the Grees lay

To-fore the Cave dore, As I the Say, 132

Vppon his Face the sonne fere schon,

Where-with he A-wook Eyht Anon, w«k« bim.

And his £yen Open he gan to Caste,

And Abowtes him he loked ful faste ; 136

And whanne that the Se he loked vppon.

And Ek the Boch that he lay There on,

He lefbe yp« his Biht hond An hy,

And the Signe of the Crois made devoutly. 140 andhemakM

Thanne Cam he to his Mynde Agein cnm.

As he to-fom was Al In Certein,

> MS into to.

270 MORDREINS PRATS. HE SEES THE OLD MAN OOMINO AGAIN.

And kneling, to God made his preycie
In this Maner As 30 scholen here : 144

Thin Mordraiiit " O thow Bwete lord God Almyhty,

ynj9 to Ood

That Comfort And Ese dost to Alle Soiy,
And me hast deliuered of Manie gret distresse,
Of Man! Ayentures, & Of Mani hereynesse ; 1 48

And Of Mani hevynesses which ^ weren Comenge,
Thow me deliueredest, thow Glorious kynge !
O goode lord god, I am thi Creature
To whom thow hast ben ful deboneure, 152

And to me hast Schewed gret Mercy,
To Me, lord, that ne Am no thing worthi ;
And my Sowle to helle Scholde han went,
Ne hadde ben thy M^rcy, God lord Omnipotent ; 156
And thy Mercy from helle it gan to withdrawe,
And browhtest it Into the Cristene lawe ;
tokMpand So, goodc lord, me kepe & defende,

dftfeud him flram

th« temptotioDB And "Enere thy Grace that thow me Sende ; 160

And that the devel ne tempte not me,
Whom I haue forsaken, & Only taken me to the ;
Whose werkis & him I have forsake,
And to thy mercy Onlich, lord, I me betake." 164

Whanne he thus his preyere hadde I-do,
Ful faste Abowte him loked he tho.

orttMDtrU.

HtMwtbt Owt Of the Est he Saw Comen thore

OoodVau*!

■hip coming The fair Schip that he say ])* day before, 168

Where-Inne that was the goode man
That of so mochel goodnesse to him spak than.
And whanne he Saw that it was he,
Ful glad and blithe he gan forto be, 172

And alle his Sorewes for3at he thanne,
For Joye to speken with this good Manne.
Thanne ful faste he gan to One
Of AUe his trespas there to god Mercye. 176

totiM Book. And whanne he Say the Schipe to the Boche gon,
Evere to the foot of the Boch he Cam Anon,

■ MS we.

OH. XXU.] THE GOOD OLD MAN OOMFORTS M0BDREIN8.

271

And Into that Schipe he lokede there.

And Say there-Inne thinges of diuers Manure, 180

Bothe Eichesse, Jowelles, & vitaille Also,

That to Ony lyveng Man belonged to.

And whanne the Same good man he Say,
That to him hadde spoken the form^re day, 184

And seide, '' Sira, Hyht welcome je be
Into this Roche ful Certeinle ! "
Thanne this goodman Owt of )>* schipe wente
Yp to the Roche tho, veramente, 188

And Axed the kyng how he dide fare
Sithen y tyme that he was thare.
" Forsothe, sire," quod the king tho,
*' I "Was neu^e so f\il of Sorwe & "Wo 192

As that, Goode sire, I have I-be,
Sethen the tyme ^e partid from me."

Thanne gan he him forto telle
What Ayentures that him befelle,
And Of that Fairre womnians Comeng,
And of mani Anothir Aventures thing.
Thanne Answerid him tho this good Man
With a smyleng Chere Anon than : 200

" 0 thow Man ful litel of beleve,
Ful litel thing May the Greve.
And thou stedfast In beleve wost be,
]>er nys non thing that myhte Greven the ; 204

For And thow wost thenken on hem fat the bowht,
Troste thow wel, he forgeteth the nowht ;
And jif thow Attenden wilt to his Sendse,
He nele the forgeten In noi?- wise ; 208

As dauid seith In the Sawter book —
Hos wele there aftir there-Inne look —
' Owre lord is Redy In AUe wise
To hem that hym Clepen In his Servise.' 212

In this loke thow have stedfast Creaunce,
And thanne schalt thow, with-Owten variaunce,

Mordrelns
wtlcomw Um
GoodMftnj

and tollt him of
Mtaorrowi

196 and adventoTM.

Th« Good Man
rapTOTw Mm for
hiiwantofflath.

aiid bids him
remamber

thatGk>dia
alwajaraady
tohalpHis
ftrranti.

272 QOD WILL GIVE M0RDREIN8 DELIYERAKGE. fcH. XXU,

[Have al] where yppon thin herte wil thenke,

Redy to the, whethir pou. wake Oper wynke. 216

Th» Good Mfto And thowgh A whille that here thow he

that God wui Here In preson. As thow Miht Se,

Uk* him from ^ '

tb« Rock. Ahasche the not for thy heyng ;

Ful wel hens he wyl the hringe, 220

And qwiten the A hundred fold More

Thanne for him dist thow Owht fore ;

And more Gwerdoun schalt thow have

Thanne Evere thin herte kan thenken o]^er krare, 224

As witnesseth david the prophete,

Where As he Seith these wordes swete,
God looMt thoM ' Grod vnhindeth that is I-hownde,

thai art bound.

Ss of here peynes hem loseth In a stownde ; 228

For God, the hurte men he keuereth sone,

And ])* wikked to goodnesse tometh Anone,

Our* God, y Ryhtwos loveth Ryht Wel,

The Orphanees he gouemeth £ch del.' 232

« This Owhtest thow to have In knowenge,
And holych In thy sperit Rememhringe :
lAnd thow In thyn herte that pou Synne,
It Cometh on of him self More ne mynne, 236

But On Of thy flesches &elte ;
Here-offen Sekyr Myhtest pon be ;
For the Flesch, dedlich it is,

not from tb« And 80 thin herte sekerly It NIb ; 240

whidiiiipiritittL For thin herte, it Ib speritwel,

1 — ■ Et nepourquant, se 11 auient auoune fie que 11 cuera
peohe, pour ohou ne dois tu mie quidier que che soit de la care
de lui. Mais che 11 aaient par la grant fragilitei de la char
dont 11 est oargies. Car la cliar est morteua, si ne puet naturel-
ment a nule chose penser qal ne soit morteus. Mais 11 cuera
est eeperiteus ; si doit as esperiteus choses entendre. Mais or
dels donques sauoir ke est 11 cuers, pour che ke ie te fai en-
tendant ke 11 est esperiteus. Li cuers n*est nule autre chose ke
la conniflsanche de bien et de mal. Et pour chou ke 11 est con-
nissans de Tun et de Tautre, pour chou doit 11 estre apieles * la
Teuo de Tame.* «Ensi rent 11 tres haus rois ' la veue du cuer ^ a
cheus qui es morteus choses sont awles, quant U roelent re-
querre sa medicine et son consel. — A.

Sta flonts from
thoflMh,

OH. XXII.] CHKIBT WILL BRING HIS SKBVANTB OUT OF TBOUBLE. 273

And speritwel thing to don Ech del ;

For thine herte is thing of speritwelte

The goode fvom Evel to knowew, I telle the. 244

And this is Only hise Mesteere,

f «rfore * the Sihte of y sowle' he is cleped there ;

Thus sendeth the goode lord Above,

' Sihte of sowle' to hem that him love, 248

That dedlj thinges wile forsake,

& Only to his Conseil hem take ;^

Ful seker of welthe mown they be.

And Owt of al Maner Ada^site ; 262

For thos witnesseth the profecie

Of holy prophetis that don not lye.^

[It is ful trewe] with-owten lesing,

[He that] In Synne is dwellyng, 256

In ful strong preson he is I-Caste

Whiles that he In Synne doth laste,

For thanne he is bownden In strong peine

With the develis CombrauTss, in Certeine. 260

And 3if Owt Of preson he wil ben vnbownde,

To the welle of Cownseil he moste In a stownde,

The wheche is openly now Confessiown,

That is to the devel Eiht fowl Confuciown ; 264

Anon Of presown he is vnbownde

Thorwgh Confesciown that ilke stownde ;

Thanne the develis Cownseil forsaketh he^

And alle y werkes that to him longen to be. 268

'* And In this Manere wele oure Saviour
His Servauntes bringen owt of dolowr,
And Owt of presown thus hem bringe
That to-fore the devel hadde In Chalenginge ; 272
And thus the Brosed, hoi doth he Make,
That Ony thing wele don for his sake.
For Manie Men In this world ^ there be.
That Maymed In here Membres ben Sekerle, 276

'The Sight of
UmSooL'

Oaf 21}

Th« Sinner i>
iaprlBon,

bound with the
DerU't hln-
dnuiees.

Oonftedon alone
oan anbind him.

By Gonfenion,
Christ bring* Hia
aervanta oat of
prisoo.

* End of a Chapter in the English MS.
OBAAL. 18

' MS wolrd

274 THl GOOD MAN TELLS MORDRKINS ABOUT HIS SOUL. [CH« XZIX.

And 80 harde here MemLres ben hurt Echon,
8inn«nbATt That On non foote.ne mo wen they Gon ;

And sweche Men forsothe they be,
loittiMiiiniMor That the Membrea of the sowle ban lost Sikerle, 280

And ]>e Swetnesse of )>* herte Tvith-<trawe

Be worldly lustes they they ban hem slawe ;

But Otherwise scholden they do,

As I schal the seye, now herkene me to, 284

What the swetnesse of the sowle it is,

Ful delitable thing, & ful Of blis.
The Limbt of " The membrcs of the sowle these bene : ^

•wMtneo^ Swetnesse of herte Is On ful schene, 288

niigion. Good Bellgiows, with pyte,

i«frcicnc«^ Lowliche reu<?rence to God, & dirinite^

tunooenot, mercy. Innocense, & ful therto of Me/'cye :

These ben the Membres of y sawle sekerlye ; 292

For the sowle, sosteined here-bi et is.

^* And what sowle that of these Membres don Mis,

It may not wel Governed thanne be,
TbeM STB th« For thoss ben the hondes & feet sekerle 296

hand* snd feet _, rMtii -r^*

ofDMn'stottU. That to Mannes Sowle belongen Echon,
And elles May it nethir Meven ne gon ;
For Anon As the sowle \>ese membres hath gete,
Thanne to the body it is dressed ful swete ; 300

Ful wel is that body At Heste Ss £se
That vrith the membres of y sowle can him plese.

C*?B6dnMiih] Lo thus Redesteth* God of hevene*

Hem that him loven woth Milde stevene." 304

That the Good Sweche wordis, & Other Mo,

Mordreine! The goode Man of y schipe the kyng spak vnto,

And Comforted the king moche In this Manefe
With tho wordes pal he to him Spak there. 308

* Che Bont lea boines tekes del cuer. Si comme relegiond,
piteSf reuerenche, concorde, lonocense, xniBericorde. — A.

' Eds! redreohe li tous poissanss et garist, chtaus qui par
rordure de lor cors sont contrait et mehaignie en ame. — ^A.

THE QOOD MAN TELLS UOBDREIKS WHO THE FAIB WOMAN IB. 275

Thanne tlie kyng this good man gan to re&einey^
And Axede liim of that faira womman Certaine,
That with him was the formere day,
And with hire him wolde han had Away. 312

Anon the goode man him Answerid thanne :
** Ful wel know I that ilke wommanne
That to the Semede so fair and Eiche,
And In alle the world the thowhte non swich; 316
3it, whanne sche was In Myn howshcdd,
Fairere sche was be an hundred fold,
And bettere At £se, thanne sche now Is,
And moche more In wel the, wit^-Owten mis. 320

And whanne sche An-hawnsed so was
In that ilke delitable plas,
And whanne M3m hows thns was I-Mad,
And sche alle delicasies there-Inne sche had, 324

Ano» In herte took sche gret pryd
So ful of welthe sche was that tydi
And Anon thowhte that sche lady wolde han be,
As I was Lord In myn Owne Sovereinte, 328

And that of hire I scholde haven non powste,
But heyere than I sche thowhte fer to be ;
For so mochel bewte was hire tho vppon,
That Erthly man was there neuere non 332

That Into hire face myght haven a siht ;
So fair sche was, so Cler, & so briht.

" And whanne that I knew Al hire thowht —
As that from me is hid ryht nowht — 336

And that to me sche thowhte swiche felonye,
That in thike plase non lengere myht I hire drye ;
But threw hire owt of myn hows Anon,
Into A wers plase that sche scholde gon, 340

Where that non thing so wel At £se
Sche ne Is not, ne neiper that doth bird plese,
"Ne so gret bewte hath sche now non
As that tyme was hire vppon. 344

' £t 11 rois 11 demanda. — A E. E.freyne, aek.

TIm Good Man
telU Mordieiai

that the Fair

Woman

was onoa in his

hoosahold,

and 100 timsa

fkirerthau shs

BOirls.

Bnt she waxt

prondf

and wantsd (o b«
hl^est— '

soippeatiras
hsr beanty that
no mortal eoald
look at htr—

and ro the Good
Han threw her
out of Mh house
into a worse
place.

276

WHY THB PAIR WOMAN CAMS TO MORDREINB. [CH. XXIH.

81iM» then,
•h«'t ■triTan to
■ngwhlin.

AndilMoolj
oanMtollor*
drains to do bar
wiekad wlU on
him.

" And from that tyme ^it hidirto,
Alle hue Miht and power hath sche do,
Me to wraththen what ache May ;
The wheche is hire labour bothe i Njht & day. 348
And for that sche sawh that I Cam to the.
The to visite & Comforte In this degre,
It was the Cawse Of hire Comenge,
Owt of this plase the forto brenge, 352

And AI hire wyl thanne to fulfille, —
Thus ful of wikkednesse sche is, & ille, —
And to don the forsaken thi Creatour
That the Supported & holpen In Mani a stowr. 356
Therfore As longe As to thi Saviour thow kepist ]>%
And from him ne Flechest in non Manere degre,
There ne schal non Manere thing the faille
That to thi body Or Sowle May Availle, 360

That to the it schal Anon I-grawntid be
Ful Sokerley, Sere, As I tellet the."

CHAPTER XXIII.

Still of Mordreins (Evalach) on the Rock Perilous, and his
Temptations there (p. 277-298). How the Good Man
comforts him, and asks him if he is hungry ; then takes
him to the ship (p. 277), and offers him delicious meats^
the sight of which so satisfies him that his hunger goes
(p. 278). He desires to know about Nasciens, and the
Vision of the Streams [Chap. XVIII. p. 231] that he saw
(p. 279) ; but the Good Man will not tell him yet» and
exhorts him not to fear any marvels that he may see (p.
280) ; and tells him how to know good counsel from bad
(p. 281). Mordreins asks how long he is to stop on the
rock ; and is told, * till the devil takes him off by the left
hand ' (p. 282). He is distresst at hearing this, and the
Good Man disappears (p. 282). Mordreins sees the Fair
Woman's ship coming, and prays to God for grace to resist
her (p. 283). She tempts him by telling him that his
Brother-in-law and Queen are dead (p. 284), and by offer-
ing him the precious stones, etc. in her ship (p. 285) ; but
he will not yield to her, and will not answer to his devil-
name Evninch (p. 286). She reproaches him, but in vuin,
and then departs (p. 286). A great tempest rages (p.

CH. XXIII.] THB GOOD MAN TAKES MORDREIKS TO HIS SHIP. 277

286) ; a wonderful noise is heard, and a clap of thnnder
which knocks off the top of the rock (p. 287). Mordreins
prays to Qod to comfort him. He gets wonderfully sleepy
and hungry (p. 288), and sees a black loaf, which he takes
hold of, and is trying to eat, when a marvellous bird swoops
down on him (p. 289), and knocks it out of his hand
(p. 293). — The description of this bird Scipilions, or the
Phoenix, a type of Christ (p. 289-293).— The king swoons,
and the bird hits him with its right wing, and then flies
away (p. 293). The king reeovers, and thanks Qod (p.
294). The Good Man and the Tempting Woman come
to him daily, and the Good Man comforts him (p. 295).
He sees another ship, sailorless ; a great tempest rages
(p. 296) ; then fierce heat comes ; but he will not leave
the rock (p. 297). The weather clears, and he ponders
over his adventures (p. 298).

Thus In tills Man67'e spak this good Manne

Ful long witli the king In y Eoche thanne,

And with so Manie wordes swete

Thus tawhte him the develes lore to lete. 4

And the kjng Alle his talcs wel Abod,

& ful wel hem likede, & stille he stod,

For so Wel him liked his Talkyng,

That it was ful loyful to the kyng. 8

Thanne this Goodman took him he the hond.
And be his Name him Cleped, I vndirstond,
That he took be his Crestenenge,
Sira Mordreins, that was ferst Eualach y kynge. 12

Thanne Axede this goode Man there Anon,

* 3if he hadde Ony honger him vppon.'
Thanne the kyng Answerid Anon there

With faire wordes In this Manere, 16

* That 3if In lus Compenie he wolde Abyde,
And not from him gon At that tyde,

Al his hevynesse he Scholde Forgete,

And bothe hunger & thurst scholde he lete.' 20

Anon be the hond he gan him lede
Down to the Schipe In that stede,
And there him schewed Alle Mancr Of Richesse^

* et si li moustra la grant rikeohe des bieles viandes dont il
i auoit a moult grant plente, de toutes les manieres dont cuers
porroit penser et langue parler. — A.

The flood Man
baring taught
Mordrelna to
laaT« th« Dsrll't
lore^

aska him whether
he'i hongiy.

takea him down
to the Ship,

278

MORDBEIKS'S FORMER HUNGKB VAKISHES. [oH. ZXIII.

■hoira him plMtj
of Ibod And drink.

and pots it all at
hiadiapoaaL

Mordralna tdia
tbtOoodlCaa

that hit ewMt

words,

and the right

ofthafood

hara takan awaj
all dMire in him
to sat and drink.

The Good Man
know* that
Mordreine ia
thinking of
Naaciana,

and hie Viitou
ahont him.

Of Mete, & Of drink gret pleieyoufinesse, 24

That Ony herte On kowde bethenke.

In that Schipd was Of mete & drinke.

Thanne seide to y king this good man Anon,

" Lo 1 Alle these deintes In thi wil wile I don, 28

To taken there-Offen what Euere thou liste,

To Eten & drinken AI Of the beste ;

And At thi wille Al this Schal be

In this Manere, as I telle it the." 32

And whanne y kyug Al this MeryeLIle beheld,

With Alle deyntes Anon he was ful fyld,^

That hunger ne thorst ne felte he Non,

Thanne streyht from his Mete he hadde gon. 36

^it More seide the kyng to this good man tho,
" Sire, I wele je wete that it be So, —
That with }owre wordis that ben so swete,
& Of y Sihte of this drinke & Mete 40

Wheche that ben In this present plase,
That In this Schipe Schewed ]>on me has, —
That Sihte So fulMeth Me,

And maketh me ful Of delicase, 44

That to Eten ne drinken have I non lust ;
For so Mochel In thy wordis I trust.
And sethen 30 sein that 30 knowe
Alle Mennes thowhtes vppon A rowe, 48

Thanne knowen ^e Myn with-Oi^ten faille ;
Wherfore I preye 30W Of good Cownsaille."

Than Answerid this good Man Anon,
" Thy thowhtes I knowe Wei Echon ; 52

Thow thenkest On Nascien, thy brother dere.
That the Womman tolde the of here.
For him wele I not Forgete, nefer vpe ne down ;
Thow schalt him Seen In A-yisiown 56

Decende from the hevene Adown ful Bathe,

' (1. 36, Thanne a than if.) si f u ei sooles Beulement del
▼eoir, ke il ne sentoit mala nol f aim, uient plus ke ae 11 enst luea
droit mengie. — ^A.

XOBOBEINS BEOS THE GOOD HAN TO EXPLAIN HIS VISION. 279

And In the Nynthe Flood he schal him bathe.

That largere and deppere it is to Seye^

Thanne the toj^ere yi^j. ben In feye." 60

And whanne the kyng herd him Sein so.
Fill sore Abasched was he thanne tho,
And Merveilled mochel what this Man were
That sweche wordes Spak to him there, 64

How that he Scholde haven knowenge
Of Sweche A Maner Strawnge thinge.
There-by he thowghte Certeinly
That he was non Man to ben dedly ; 68

But so bold dorste he not thanne ben thore
Of him to Enqweren there Ony More.

And whanne he hadde Avised him In this Manere,
Anon him preide, And gan to Enqwere, 72

** That he wolde tellen him AUe & Som
The Signefiawnce Of his Avisiown,
And that ^e Wolden, for god Almyht,
It me declaren now Anon Riht ; 76

For I have Ful longe In gret thowht be.
What signefiannce it Mihte ben to Me."
Thanne Answerid this good Man Agein,
** That schalt thow neuere weten In Certein 80

Into the tyme & Into that day
That this viande owt Of this plase the bridge away.^
And thanne Schalt thow knowen [the certeinte]
What that thy vicioon doth fiignefe, 84

Al from begynneng to the Ende ;
Thanne schalt thow knowen how it schal wende.

'' And be this I Chastise the wel,'
But fiN)m hens-forward, neuere Adel, 88

Ifordreina
wondttrs

how ih« Good

can know bis
thougUU.

H« ukfl the

Good Man
to UU him Um
meaning of
his Vision.

Bat h« is not
to know it till lie
beats the Lion
who'll take away
his food.

1 Che ne troaaeres tu ia qui te die deuant a ohele eare ke
ta aras vainou et caohie ensus de toi le leu ki ta boine viande
te vanra toUr. £f lors earas tu chertainement qui ohis leus est,
et pour quoi 11 te vaura toUr ta Tiande. — A.

' Hals de tant te castie iou bien, ke ia de nule choae ke tu
ooiei^ ne soles esmaies ne espoentes. — A.

280 THE GOOD XAK TELLS XORDREIXS TO HOLD TO GOD. [CH. TKUU

The Good Man What Maner Merveilles that Eucre thow 86,

n«^er fear, Loke that aoasched no more thow be.

he niMj iM. ^it Merveilles here-Aftir schalt thou se,

As the vols In thy paleys told to the 92

Whanne Nasciens and thow On bedde were,

Vppon on Cowcho liggeng there,

Where that ^e fillen In Swownenge

For gret drede of that Koise herenge ; 96

Where As the vols Seide In this manere,

All thow fore- * Of more dredes & Merveilles scholen ae here

told by the Voice ^

In Same Palace Thanne Euere te diden to-fore this day : '

(p. 238) ^ .

And thus the vois to 30 w gan Say. 100

Wheche is the wille of goddis sone,
■hau happen. That Alle these thinges scholen ben done,

And that here-After he wele Schewe

Swiche Merveilles vppon A rewe, — 104

To hem that him liketh ful wel,

They scholen hem sen Every del, —

The wheche, Alle Othere Menreille scholen pass

That Eue9*e jit to fom tyme of 30W sein wase ; 108
Batififordreins And ?if tou wilt In trewe Creaunce the holde,

wUl hold Ann ^ '^ '

inhia beii«r. And In herte stedfast stable and bolde ;

What so enere hens-forward that thow se,
hell heap himieif Ful wel from b* devel bou myht kepen the, 112

from the DevlL '^ r J r ^

And more Stedfast to be In thi Creaunce,
What so befalle the In Ony Chawunce.
And hens-forward jif Oni Aventure Come to the
Be man Other womrnan, what so he be, 116

That faire Casten the forto deceyve,
Loke In Alle weye from hem thow weyve,
That nethir for jiftes ne for beheste,
Loke fovL ne troste to leste ne meste ; 120

He's never to Nethir for fair speche, ne Closing,

part IVoiii hia .

Creator. From thi Creatour Make ])ou non parting.

" And loke that thow have Evere In thy Mynde
The dede of Adam y form fadir be kynde, 124

liORDBEIKS IS NOT TO OIVB UP OOD's WILL FOB ANY GIFTS. 281

How that be the devel decey ved he was.

And owt of paradis Cast, pat blessid plas ;

For he fulfilled the devellis wylle

Be Connseil of his wif, wheche was ylle. 128

<< And loke that thow have this In Kemeinbrawnce,
What 80 the behappe In Oni Chaunce ;
And therb J myhtest thow knowen fill wel
Alle Manere of Cownseilles Everidel, 132

Whethir it be for good Oper for iUe,
Oper the forto save, Owther forto spille.

« And for thow scholdest knowen Alle thing
That scholde ben to thi lordes plesing, 136

Therfore schalt thow leven non Cownsaille
That to his wille scholde dis-AvaiUe ;
And thowh they the behoten 3iftes & Eichesse,
Be war, putte not y in distresse 140

Forto don A^ens his plesinge ;
Be war J)ere-offen Ouer Alle thinge.
And bethenke the Alwey In thy Myude,
That Erthly ^iftes ben not so kynde
As ben the ^ifbes Of hevenly good,
Hos that it wel yndirstood ;
For Erthely ^iftes ben freel & Mevable,
& hevenely ben stedfast & Euere durable* 148

And loke thow that now hens-forward.
Of these jiftes that thow take good Award,
And thow take not On jifte for Anothir,
Be war ther-Offen for Ony Othir ; 152

Sethen thow knowest whiche ther be,
The goode thou take, the Evele thow fle.
And be this, Alle wikked temptaciouns
From the Scholen passen, and trebulaciouns ; 166

And to Evere lastyng Consail pou schalt be take,
And be browht from wo & wrake."

And there Eyht thus In this Manere
This goode Man of the schipa to hym spak there ; 160

Th«Good]faii
telU Mordrains

to belltre no
■dvlce that'll
diiplaueOod,

tho' be'i promlflt
gifts and ri^ea
for it.

144 BartUyglfta

■re frail and
moveaUe;
heavenly onea
dnrable.

Deaf 22]

Take the good
and flee the evU.

283

THB GOOD MAN VANISHES FBOM MORDREINS. [cH. XZUI.

If ordreiiu Is
tottajr on th«
Rock UU tba
DtfTil ukM him
oiTby hlatoft
hand.

The Good If ui
fOM to his ahlp^

MldTmllbM,

MordnfiM
wond«n who
Um Good Man li.

Ful Mochel his wordis liked him tho.
And to gret prophit tomed hym Also.

Thanne Atte kste Axede h jm the kyng,
' How long In that Roche scholde ben Ms dwellyng.'
Thanne Answerid the good man A-gayn, 165

" In this Eoche Schalt thow byden Certain
Tyl that the devel Owt the take be y left bond,
And the Eoche to forsake, thou it yndirstond ; 168
For Erst Owt Of this Eoche shalt ^u not fle ;
And of Al this, Sekir Mihtest now thow be."
Thanne was the kyng Abasched ful sore,
Of the wordis that he thanne spak thore : 172

That the devel Owt Of the Eoche him scholde brynge ;
It was to him tho An bevy tyd}'nge ;
Thaniiece to the Erthe he fil Anon,^
And ful gret Momeng him fil vppon. 176

And In this Mene wliille tho
This good man to the schipe gan go.

Anon As he Owt of his thowht Awook.
Yp gan he stonde, and Abowtes him look, 180

And Nethir Man ne Schip^ Sawh he,
As fer As he loked Into the Se ;
For In the same Maner As he to-fore wente,
Eiht so dide he tho to his Entente. 184

Thanne this kyng Me?^eilled wondir sore
What Manere Of Man that this were
That so him Certefyed Of Alle thing,
As wel Of begynncTig As Of the Endyng. 188

Thanne ful sore him self he gan to blame,
That he ne hadde Enqwered his Name,
And Enserched what he hadde be,
Owther God, Owther Man In Ony degre ; 192

Evere vppon this point ful sore he thowhte.
That theke Man to knowen Myhte he Kowhte.
)it Anothir thing him Eewede sore tho,
Whanne that this good man was Ago, 196

' Lors fi'enbronka vers terre. — A Thannece =: thence.

CH. ZXIII.] THE FAIR WOMAN OOMES AGAIN TO TEMPT M0RDREIN8. 283

That lie ne hadde Enqwerid of him theroi
' ^if he Bcholde han ly ved In that Manere,
Tyl that to him he hadde Comen Ageine/
And this of him forgat he to Refreine. 200

Al thus the kyng longe to him Self spak.
Til Atte laste he herde A gret IN'oise wit^-owten lak,
Cryeng of wawes Of the se j

But ful gretly he Merveilled what it myhte be. 204
Thanne he gan him to dressen Anone
Vpward, & Into the Se he loked ful sone,
And westward him thowhte Cam seilyng pere
The same schipe, Ss In the selve Manere,
That the faire womman Cam In to-fore,
Where-Offen Abasched he was ful sore ;
For he him dradde sore, as he stoode.
That sche ne Cam for none Goode. 212

Thanne to God preyde he ful faste,
His sowle forto kepen, so was he Agaste ;
What so Evere become Of his flesch
He ne Bowhte, whej^er hard Ofer IN'esch. 216

And thus In his preieres was he stedfast
Al the while thar It Myht last,
That of his goode purpos not left schold he be ;
Thus preide he to God In Maieste. 220

And whanne his Orisown thus was I-do,
Into the Est Ano» he tomed him tho,
And there Anon Made he his devociown —
In Minde of lerusalem, that worthy town 224

Where-Inne thei gonnen Crist Crucifye,
That blessid body, the Sone Of Marye, —
Owt Of his Caytyvite him forto bringe,
& deliueraunce of the womman that was Comenge. 228

With this Cam y Schipa to y Eoche Anon
Also faste As it Myhte gon,
Also & as Eiche Aa it was Ere ; ^
Thus there him thowhte In Alle Manere. 232

Mordrtliif hears
a great nolae

and.ieea the Fair
Woman's ahip
208 oomlng.

He praje to God
to preeenre his

■01^

and makee hie
derotlonsto
the East.

281

THS FAIB WOMAN DKCLARBS NA8CIENB IS DEAD. [CH. XXIIL

TktFUrWfl

MofdralM
tohi

ShtflAiiKhs,
and Udshloi
ibtf-wbat

and

tribalation be'i
had ilnoa ha waa
aChriattan.

UortOTfTf
Naadena
and Qaean
Sarraojnta art
both daad.

And whanne to the Roche Aryved ache was,

Owt of y schipe ache Cometh a ful giet paa ;

But the king 3af hire feie non Greting,

Ne non Word to hire spak At here Comeng. 236

And whanne sche Sawh fat he wolde not speke,

Anon there Bche gan to him^ Reke,

And gan him Axen * how he hadde faro

Sethen the tyme sche was kst tharo.' 240

Anon he seide, ' sche ne hadde not to do

Of no thing him to Eefreinen so ; '

And Oper Answere tho hadde sche non ;

Ches whethir sche wolde Abyden Oper gon. 244

And whanne sche him herde thus Answero,
Anon to lawhen be-gan sche there :
" Kyng Eualach," sche seide, " I se by the,
Thow hast lost bothe mynde & Memoro ; 248

For sethen that thou took this CreAunce,
The hath behapped ful Mochel Koisaunce,
Ful Mochel sorwe and trebulaciown,
And ^it Mochel More is the forto Com , 252

And )it there-offen Revest pan neuere Adel,
But, As me Semeth, it liketh the wel
As Ony worschepe pat Evere haddest pou,
And as moche it were for thy prow. 256

Neuertheles thanne, I kan the telle
Tydinges newe, bothe fresch Ss enelle,
That I have sein with bothe Myn £yen ;
For it is ful soth I schal the seyen. 260

Streyht from sarras I come to the ;
That I schal Sein, thow myht leven me ;
For wete thow wel Ful Certeinle,
That ded Is thi goode frend Seraphe ; 264

For Neuere schalt thow him se with Eye,
"Neper Saracynte thy qwene, Certeinlie."

Whanne that the kyng thus horde here seyn.

Anon fowle Astoned was he tho Certein ; 268

' MS to him to hym.

CH. XXIII.] BHE OFFERS MOBDBEINB ALL THB BICHE8 IN HEB SHIP. 285

But ^it Neu^rtlieles he ne leved it ^owht.

So Mochel On Jesus Crist was his thowht ;

But for the grete love fat he hadde to his wif

And to his brothir, with-Owten Strif, 272

That Cawsed him moche more mone to Make

For his Qweene & sire Kasciens Sake.

But for Owht that sche Cowde sein him to,

Owt [from] that Eoche Nolde he not Go. 276

And whanne sche Saw that with non falsnesse
Him Ouercome ne bringen In distresses
Sche bad him ' Come sen the Eiche thinge
That In that schipe sche dide him bringe.'
Thanne to hire seide the kyng Ageyn,
fat '^ In the Schipe I ne wele not Comen Certein,
"Nq for non thing that thow kanst do,
Owt from this Roch I wele nowht go." 284

Thanne Onkeuered sche the schipe In haste.
And preide him loken Atte laste.
Thanne the kyng loked In for the Nones,
Where-Inne he sawh many preciows stones,
As that him thowhte there to his Eye,
And mochel Other Richesse Sekerlye.
" Lo, kyng Eualach, thow wenest that I be
For non goodnesse I-comen to the ; 292

But ful wel mystest^ thow weten & knowe.
That Al this Eichesse fat here Is On A rowe
May Not Comen from non Evel plase, —
For ful mochel loie there is, there this wase, — 296
And jif thow wilt with me now go,
Owther My Cownseil Assentyn vnto,
Al this Eichesse schalt thow have.
And ^it Mochel more jif Jwu wilt Crave." 300

Lo Al this Counseil ^af this wommanne
To this kyng Eualach there thanne ;
But for alle hire wordis & hire faira promyse,
Thens wold he not Gon In non wyse ; 304

Mordreiasls
grierd.

bat won't \mn
the Rock.

Th« Fair Woman
Mks him to look
280 at the rich things
inherahlp.

Sbeanooren
thmn;

288 and If ordrdnt

many
pradoua stones.

8h« <rfftn 'em all

[lybrmyhteiit]

tohimifhe'U
do her wllU

But lie'll liol
move.

286 THB FAIR WOMAN CAN'T TEMPT MOBDREIXS. 8HB LEAVES HIM.

And 3it ful mocbe distorbeled he was
For bis qweene Ss Seiaphe In that pka.

And whanne ache beheld him Atte htste.
That In his Creaunce he was so stedfaste, 308

MordnhM wiu 8o whanne that Euahich sche Cald him there.

not anawtr to

hh h«UMa For that Name he wolde not Answere :

nanii'ETalMii.*

For, he seide, the deyel he hadde forsake.
And Onlych to God be baptem him take ; 312

Thanne Gan eche to lawghen Eft sone,
And seide, '' Eualach, litel hast thou to done ;
For be that Name, I the now Say,
Worschepe and Conqwest hast ^ou geten mani day ;
But be that whiche now thow hast to Name, 317

Ne Gote thow nenere but thowht^ sorewe, & schame."
Kotwithatandioff Ful lom?e it lasted, this temptacioui*

aii the Fair ^^ ' ^

womaira Toward this kyng with gret tribulaciown, 320

That 80 sche him Eeproved of his distresses
Of his Angwisch, & of his porenesse.
And Euere Answerid this kyng Agein,
Onlich Of goddis myht tho In Certein, 324

And Also of Goddis Bihtful Creaunce,

Mordreina refuaM " Whiche that I wil holden wM-Owten variauRce ;
And for Alle the ^iftes & the beheste,
Nc)r^ for Alle the Hichesse, lest ne Meste, 328

to turn from jf © schsl me tomeu Owt Of my thowht
From him that me dere hath bowht."
Whanne fat sche sawgh that in non degre
Owt Of that Eoche to don him fle, 332

Netliir for ^ifbes ne non qweintise,
Ne for non thing fat sche Cowde devise,

So the Fair Thanne Anon to be Schipe sche tomed Agein,

Woman aaile oif, '

As to fore tymes sche dide fid pleyn. 336

Anon Eiht thanne As sche was Gon,
aiidmuinpest j^ fQ^i stroug tcmpcst there Eos Anon,

ri»ea aa before ^ *^

(p- «o')- Eiht As fowl & hidows it was thore

As it was the tother day there before. 340

CH. XXIII.] A THUNDERBOLT KNOCKS OFF THE TOP OP THE BOCK. 287

Thanne here-Oifen Merveilled y kyng Anon
How that this womTTzan was so gon,
And that Al the Eichesse hadde him browht,
Whethir that it were Owht Ofer nowht, 344

And that In schort while sche hadde I-be
At Sanas, & to him I-comen thedir Aje,
" The wheche xvij dayes iowme scholde be
As to forn tymes sche told it to Me." 348

And whanTte this tempest he Sawh thus fare,
In his herte he hadde ful Mochel caie ;
And so gret dirknesse fil him ypon.
That sihte there myhte he sen non, 352

But 9if it were tyme of lyghtene/ig
That to him Cam befom the thondring ;
And Evere this tempest trowbled faste,
That seker, Euere he wende it wold han laste. 356

And whiles he was In this thenkyng,
Him thowhte he herde A wondir sowneng
Wheche that scholde Comen from An hy.
As tho him thowhte ful trewely } 360

So, what for ferd & for that sown
Streiht to the Erthe he fyl Adown,
That he ne myht steren foot ne hond,
Nethir non lyme where-Onne to stonde, 364

But that Onne this,' with his hondis two,
To the Greces of the Boche he Cleved tho.

And whiles that he lay In this degre,
Anon A thondir Clape Cam there fle, 368

That Al the heyest partye of that Boche Anon
Into the se-botme gan forto gon.
So that there lefbe but a litel spase
The kyng Onne to Beste fat there wase ; 372

And the Bemnaunt that was smeten Away,
Was neuere more sein Into this day.
Anon the kyng for drede fil there A-down,

' Fon itant geulement ke il s'ahert a deus mains si com 11
peat — A.

Jfordrelm
wonderi over th«
Fair Woman,

and her eoming'
•o swiftly from
Harras.

Tbetompeat
oontlnuas.

Mordrein* hcara
a vrondrotts
aoond.

and falls to the
ground.

A thandertmlt
knocks off fcl'O
top of his Rock.

288 MORDRSIN8 IB VEBT HUNQBT. [CH. XZIII.

Ful longe there liggeng In a swowil 376

wb«n xordniiM WhAiine Owt of his swowneng Awaked was he

Thoigwh the Comforteng Of the Maiestie,
th« tMuptrt j^ the tempest was Oner gon,
•adftUttitUL That noise ne thondring herde he non; 380

Therto the See, In pesible stat it was,

That to fore tjme was hidows in fat plas,

So that of tempest herd he nenere A del,

Wheche to forn times he heide fill weL 384

Thanne Abowtes him loked he ful faste.

And the Roche he Missede atte laste,

Whiche fat was the heyest partye ;

Thanne In his herte hadde he giet Anoye, 388

And In his Mynde was gretly Abascht,

How that Roche was so de-dascht.
H«eroH« Thanne Anon g&n he forto Make

The signe Of the Crois, for Owre loidis sake ; 392

Bothe yppon his hed and vppon his body

He mode the Signe of God Almyghty,

And besowhte God, for his special grace,

Him to Comforte & kepen. In that place, 396

In Riht wit, Mynde, & Memorye ;

Thus this kyng tho to God gan Crye.
wyt hiM pnjm, And whanne thus his preieres he hadde I-do,

A wondirful lust thanne Cam him to, 400

That he moste slepen Kedelye,

As here vs telleth this storye ;
MdgoMto iieep. So that On the Roche there he slepte,

Yppon swich A spas As him was lefte ; 404

wh«n he wakM, And whanue Of his slope fat he A-wook,
that hathinka Swich An hunger there him took,
ne*f ts] That him thowgbte ded forto be,
toidT" But jif of Mete he hadde plente. 408

And whanne thus longe ne had mad his Mone

To him Self there Al Alone

Of his Misaise and hunger ful strong,

So fat lyven him thowghte myhte he not long : 412

THE filBD SCIPILIONS (tHE PHCENIX) THAT ATTACKS MORDREINS. 289

And as Abowtes him he lokede there,

He say, him thowghte, In a qwey7^t Manere,

Ligeng vppon A grees Of ston,

A wondir blak lof there Anon ; 416

And whanne this lof beheld he tho,

A wondir strong pas he gan for^o go

To-ward thike lof, [it] for to take,

Lik As gret hunger it gan to Make. 420

And whanne he hadde it In his hond.
It forto breken tho gan he foud ;
But therto hadde he no Miht ;

But al hoi to his Mowth Anon riht 424

He it there putte, to han biten vppon ;
And therto his Mowth he Openede Anon.

And In the Mene whille him thowghte he herde

A wondirful noise, and qweyntely Ferde, 428

As thowgh Alle the fowles of the Eyr

To him ward they gonnen Repeire ;

For wheche gret drede In that Manere

Anon his hed he lefte vp there ; 432

And to liim there Cam discending^ Adown

A merveillous fowl w/t/i a wondirful sown ;

For so wondirful ho was, & so divers,

That neuere to forn tyme tonge Cowde Eehers ; 436

The hed of him was as blak As pich,*^

Ne now Othir Colowr was it lich ;

And therto, bothe his Eyen & his teeth,

As brennenge Fir forsothe they beth ;

But the schape Of his hed, it was

Lik An Orible dragon In that plas,

And therto two homes In his hed ;

It was A wondirful sDite In that sted : 444

Also A ful long nekke like to a dragown ;

A wondirful brid, & of a qweynte faciown ;

His brest lik a lyown Schapen was there ;

His feet like an Egle In A qweynte Manere ; 448

' MS dUtending.
GRvVAL. 19

Mordraina net
a black loaf on a
Btoa« atap.

He pots it to
his mouth to
bitait.

A wonderftil hiitl
awoopa down.

Ita head'ii aa
black as pitch ;

440 ita eyes like Are.

Its head's like a

dragon 'k,

witli 2 lionis and

a loni; nrrk.

It has a lion's

breast,

and aiiea^k's

feat.

290 THB BIBD SCIPILIOSS (tHK PHOSKIZ) THAT ATTAOKS XORDBEma.

And from y Joyntes Of his feet to y sdioldres Tpxiht.
wtth iwifi wiaci. Wondirf ul wynges, & swyfb to flyht, —

As swift they weren In alle thing

As to-fom the thondir is the lyhgtenyng — 452

M hard and thup And therto As hard As Ony steel,

M a nxor. *'

As scharpe As A Hasowr bytyng ful wel ;
Therto his fetheris white were» Also,
As scharpe as etorm Of hail therto ; 456

And whanne that scharply he fyl A-down,
This ilke brid made A wondirful sown.
lu biak u aa And therto the bek of his hed that was there,

ahaip aa a ipaar. j a ^ j^^

It was as scharpf! As Ony spere, 460

And Also brennenge, vppon forto se,

As lyghteneifg that to-fore p* thondir doth fle.

Uppon this Maner, lik As ^e here,
Was this brid On this Manere, 464

As Becordeth here the devyn storye
That to Ts hath put In Memorye ;
All birds draad So that this Bryd ne fleeth be non weye,

this Bird,—

the Phomix that But that alle briddiB Ss bestes of hym hayen Eye ; 468

typUlM oar

saTioar,— Be whom,* y Saviour Of al this world

In this brid scheweth, be his Owen Acord,

Bothe his miht & Ek his drede ;

And alle Creatures of hym took hede ; 472

For that brid is so dowted, I telle it the,

That be what weye that Evere he fle,

andflaafkomtt. Bothe brid & beste they don him fle,

Lik as be figiure I schal Schewen to y : 476

Behold, how pat derknesse to fom p* sonne doth fle,

Eiht so Alle briddes & bestes, I telle it the.

So fleen the sihte Of this brid, lo,

That to forn tymes I declared 90W so. 480

And cf swich kynde this brid it is,
Tliat As tlire to-gederes* witA-Owten Mis —

' en qui li aaaueres de monde Tieut sa crieme et son paour
espandre. — A.

' Et si eat de tel nature ke il n*en puet estre ke .iy. ensam-

THE BIRD 5(7JPIL70.Vi5 (tHB PHCENIX) THAT ATTACKS MORDREINS. 291

As tlie Scripture Eecordith. now here — Thu phwnix

That As thre Oueral he ilikth In fere, 484 trin* rthree m a

Lik as he that of a womman was bom '*'"^''

WitA-Owten compeine of Man, As I have rehersed

befom ;
And whanne Bedy to ben born they be, and when the

joang are Piaidy

Of A wondirful kynde this storie scheweth to me ; 488 to be bom,

For 80 Cold they been In Alle thing there,

That non wiht duren it May In non Manere,

Sawfe Only the modir of the same,

Wihche is a brid of a Merveillous fame : 492

For whanne this long suffred hath sche,

And non lengere with that Cold may sche be,

Hire Eyren sche leveth, & taketh hire flyht

Into a far Contre there Anon Kyht, 496

Where that sche hopeth forto fynde

A precious ston of Merveillous kynde,

Wheche In the vale of Ebron is at alle dayes.

Of a wondirful kynde, as the storye sayes ; 500

For Of his owne kynde he is so hot.

That non man therwith him self dar^ frot C xsdnr]

Til it gynne Chawfe Of his Owne kynLle,^

Thus fareth theke ston So good & heude. 504

For there as Cold is, it loketh pale,

As kynde telleth vs be Olde tale ;

And whanne Cold thing A-chawfed is Owht,

Anon to Red Colowr it is I-browht ; 508

that their mother
ha« tofly to

a wonderfttl hot
stone in the Vale
of Ebron,

whloh, when
rubd, torna red.

ble. Car che diat 1! verites de rescripture, ' ke il nairisent de
fumiele sans compaignie de marie.' — A. TriDS are always born :
two males and one female. See 1. 549-553.

' Chele pierre si est de si caude nature, ke ele ne puet a
nule chose froiier, ke tan tost ne s'eprenge la chose a quoi ele
frotera. Mais toua lours le porroit on tenir en sa main, anchois
que la mains en escaufast sans f roiier. Mais tantost com ou la
froie a auoune chose, si mue sa coulour de cbele part ou on le
froie. Car ele est naturelment toute blanche ; £t tantost com
ele froie^ si deuint toute vennelle oomme sans, deuers la froiure.
Et lors esprent sans estaindre toute la chose a quoi ele touche,
ne la la flambe n*i parra. — A.

292 THE BIRD SCIPJLIONS (tHB PHCENIX) THAT ATTACKS VOUDRETK59.

With thlt itont
tli« PhcuiU-
inotiMr

warms htTMir

tUliht
on flu*.

Mid daran't go too
BMurhor egga
ftirfinrof
bornlng thMD.

ThtnilMhAtdiM

iMTJOODg,

and is burnt to
powdsr hsrself.

TIm yooiuc birds

sat their mothar's

And thus be frotjng Of that ston,

It be-Comeih Red as Ony Blood Anon, v/

And vhanne this brid this ston hath fownde,
TherwttA sche hire Chafeth In that stownde ; 512

And litel Ss litel sche schawfeth hire so,
Til that hire Cold be ful nygh Ago.
And 3it In hire beek sche taketh it thore,
And hire self doth chawfe ^it wel more ; 516

And ^it sche thinketh ful litel there
For the grete Cold pat sche sofired Ere ;
And whanne that hete sche feleth plente,
A^en to hire Eyren thanne doth sche fle. 520

Whanne that In place sche cometh there
As to fom tymes hire Eyren were,
So hot sche semeth to been with-Inne,
That Al hire body on fyr doth brenne, 524

That hire Self helpen sche ne May,
So hot sche is with-Inne, y sothe to say ;
And therfore thanne weneth sche
That hire Eyren Alle I-brend scholde be, 528

So that sche withdraweth hire there £ro,
And with hire body not neigheth hem tho,
But fat A good spas from hire, nest,
As hire self it liketh hire best ; 532

So pat be the hete of hire body so fer fro,
Hire briddes sche bringeth forth Alle y,
That for Cold scholden Ellis dye :
Ihis is here kynde ful Certeinlie. 536

And thus, thorwgh Chawfyng of this ston,
The Modir to powdir is brend Anon.

And whanne hire briddes thus browht forth be,
Abowtes the Asches of hire Modir gonne they fle, 540
And there-Ofifen taken here sustenawnce
That was theke tyme to here plesaunce,
Tyl that they haven bothe lif & membres :
Thus Eten they of here Moder Syndres. 544

THE WONDROUS BIRD SCIPILIOXS THAT WOUNDS MOBDBEINS. 293

And whanne Alle they ben Eton Echon,
The Syndrea Of here Modir, & not peroffen left on,
Anon So prowde they wexen Alle thre,
That prowdere briddes ne Mown neuere be ; 548

Thanne Comen the tweyne that males be,
That neither Other may sufifre In non degre ;
And whanne here ful strengthe fully they have,
Eche of hem Of y thridde, Maistrie doth Crave,
To han the femele At his owne wille ;
Thus to Othir forseth him vntille,
So that Anon, thorwgh gret pride.
The ton the tothir Sleth that tyde. 656

Scipilions, is Clepid this brid,^
As thus In this stone it is red.

Swich was the brid that decendid J^ere
Do^m to the kyng In this Manere, 560

And smot the lof Owt Of his hond,
That to his mowth to putten gan he fond ;
And Into the see he threw it there,
Biht fer In a M<;rveillows Manere. 564

And whanne he hadde so I-do,
He took his flyht, & fleygh him fro ;
And Aftirwardis he tomed Ageyn, *

And the kyng to the Erthe was fallen pleyn ; 568

And with his Kyht wynge he smot him so
That his Clothes & his Skyn he barst vnto, ^

And from the haterel In to the foot,*
Into the harde flesh that strok it hot ; 572

And thanne this brid took forth his flyht
From that kyng Anon Tho Eyhi

■ndth«ngrov
■oproad.

552 tlMt the tiro

fight tof th«
female^

tin OM kill! th«
other.

This bird's name
ia 8ei9Uion*.

ItknodnoQtof
Ifordreiiu'i
month the black
loafhe'ejuet
going to biti^

end then bite
him with ite
right wing,

cutting him fimn
•hoolder to fooU

' Tant qu*il B'eatrecombatent, et ke 11 uns ochist Tautre.
EdbI 8*eiitroohieiit U doi malle ; bi n'en remaiDt ke la femiele,
qui est apielee ' serpolions.* Et la pierre de quoi ele 8*art, est
apielee ' piratiste.* — A.

' Et il lait la destre ele aler deuant, si le feri si qu'il 11 rompi
toate la crigne res a res du haterel, Et 11 trencha toute aa ues-
ture iusc'a la char. — A.

29^

MOBDBXINS THAN£S ODD FOB PBOTECTIKa HIU. [CH. ZZIIT.

MordraiiM llM
•11 nlyht in a

•WOOQ*

H« wftkM in th«
inominc.

thank* Ood
for dcltrerinf
him from hit
•onviri,

and uyi he hat
iMt his bodily
hnngar.

Ha will rather
die than eat
any bread but
what Qod send*.

And p* kjng In swowneng at the £rthe lay.
For drede &: sorwe of that giete Afray, 57G

Tyl that the day vaa Nygh Agon,
And the l^yht faste Eutrede vppon.

And whanne he was waked of his swowneng,
Ful feint & feble he was In alle thing, 680

That of the grete hunger he hadde to foxe,
Whiche that him Greved so sore,
Thowgh Alle worldly mete thaune had he sein,
There-Offen to £te he ne myhte Certein. 584

And thus Ahod ho Al that Nyht
Tyl on the Morwe it was day lyht ;
And whanne tlie day be-gan to dawe,
Thanne ^erofTen was this kyng ful fa we. 588

Thonne he bethowghte him In liis mynde
Of that brid so Merveillous of kynde,
That his lof so haddo Casten Away.
Many thankynges to God he jaf that day, 593

And seide, " lord God, I-worscheped thow be,
That from Alle these sorwes hast deliu^red me,
& wilt that I do bigge my synne
Ere than I Owt Of this world twynne ; 596

For swiche word is Of solace je han me sent,
That Of hunger have I lost myn talent,
Sowfe Only hunger Of sowle to susteyne ;
Therfore, lord, I me to the Gompleyne. 600

Now knowe I wcl that this Maner thing
To me hidir Gam for non forthering.
But me to deceyven be weye of Richesse,
Be ^iftes, Owther be fayr promesse ; 604

And perfore schal I neucre. In tyme comenge.
My Mowth to Opene for non Swich thing,
Thowgh the body Scholde suffren ded
Bathere thanne to £t43n Ony bred, 608

But ^if it be, lord, thorwgh thy sonde,
Ony to handelyn with Myn houde ;

OH. XZni.] KORDREINS 18 TO BE DELIVERD FROM THE ISLAND. 295

JN'e neu^re Owt of this Eoch wele I gone,

But evere here dwellen Alone, 612

Tyl that, lord, thy wiUe It be,

Owt of this Eoche to taken Me."

And thus vi dajes beleft the kyng Hofdniiu ii

In that Eoche, with-Owten lesyng ; 616 th« Good Maq,

And Eche Of these dayes Cam this good man.
And him comforted As he wel kan :
Thanne swed the womman After, Eche day, •»* thtn th«

. FalrWaman.

Of him to fonde to geten hir^ pray. 620

This Man Eucre him tolde wordis Of Comfort
As Often As to him he gan Eesort,
And Eu^e spak ihe womman of Xoysaunce
To hym. And Eu6re Of distorhaunce. 624

And whanne it was Comen to y seventhe day, Onth^Tthdaj

This good man to him Cam vn'ih-Owten delay,
And thus to him seide there in haste,
"Thin Owt of deliu^raunce Aprocheth faste, 628 bu hoar of

dellveranoi) U

)if thow wilt hennes-forward Muoniut,

The kepen from temptaciou[n]s hard

Of the devel, whiche he wil Asaye

In many weyes the to be-traye." 632

Thanne Axede him the kyng ' In what Manure
From him he myhte defenden him there.*
Thanne seide A3en this goodman 'tho,
" Wrath-the not thy God, what so thow do, 636

And Owt Of this Eoch deliu6i*ed schalt ^u be
With-Inne schort tyme Certeinle ;
But 3it Manye dredes schalt thou se
Er that owt of pia Eoche taken thow be." 640

Thanne thus partid this good man Away ; •^^ ^« ctood

The kyng there lefte, sothe to say.
Ful glad & Joyful he was In herte.
That non thing ne myhte him smerte, 644

And thowhte, ' thowgh that he schold dye,
Owt Of that Eoche wolde he not hye.

296 GBEAT STORMS BEAT ON M0RDRBIK8 ON THV ROCK. [CH. XXI It.

Mordnthii

coming a ship

with no NMtnen.

Wondroas
tempMU rise,

■now, hail, and
thunder.

[itMr*^]

and Mordrelna
haa no place to
hide hit head in.

But Rathere ded there he wolde be,

Thanyie Owt of that Roche forto fie.' 648

Th\is loiige In this thowht gan he dwelle,
That Aftir tyrae So it be-feUe
He loked ful fer Into the See :

A fair Schip€ Gam J)ere seylleng, thowht he ; 652

bothe gret & Riche him thowghte it was ;
bote neper man ne womman In that plas
that Schipe to Governe, nethir to Gye,
thus him thowhte ful Certeinlye. 656

and whanne longe it hadde so go
In the hyghe See bothe to & fro,
atte laste towardis the Roche he drowgh
A ful gret speed, & faste I-nowgh. 660

and thus sone began there In the see
wondirful tempestes fere Anon to be,
So hidous & so Angwischous in eche Manure,
that so hidows tempest saw he neuere ere. 66 i

this tempest this Schipc to the Roche browhte,
that it scholde Alto-breken him thowghte ;
It suew, & haillede, & thondrede faste.
So that pere was manie A bitter blaste, 603

So that it Semede that Al the firmament
On peces hadden borsten verament ;
For he wende the Ende Of ^* world pat day had be ;
thus thowghte the kyng thanne ful sekerle. 672

And the k}iig in pat Roche had non sted
Where that he Myhte hyden In his hed.
For the part Of the Cave was blowew Away
Into the See, As ^e han herd me Say. 676

And this fairo Schipe beheld he thanne ;
but he say nethir Man ne womtwanne.
and so thikke Abowt^s him Cam the thondring,
and Many A wondirful lyghteneng, 680

that Neuere he wende to asckapen thenne,
so wondirfuUy j)" lyghtenywg gan to brenw« ;

on. xxiil] the bun burns mordreins. he swoons. 297

thus Saffrede the kjng Al that tempest,

whiche After it torned him for the best ; 684

Al this was disseisse to his herte,

for he soffred peynes Many & smerte ;

but for alle the peynes he sufirede tho,

to the Schipe from the Eoche wolde he not go. 688

And whanne this tempest hadde longe be. At uut uio ttorm

than72e Atte laste gan stillen the See,
and the wedir to Cleren faire,

and the sonne to Schewe/i yppon the Ayre; 692 andth«nthe

and whan;3e he sawgh the wedir thus slake,
Ful gret loye he gan tho to Make.

thanne the Sonne there vppon him Schon,
and thanne the kyng lokid vp Anon, 696

and sawh his Clothes Al to-Eent,
where-Offen he Mcrveilled verament.

and thanne so sore the Sonne chawfed him perQ, n fiercely th«t
that he wende Al the Eoche hadde ben on fere, 700 on tin. **'*'"*
and that the sonne scholde han brend Alle thing,
Of this world to han Mad An Endeng.
and al was don for this Skele tho,

^if y kyng Into the Schipe wolde han go, 704 Bat neither ror

Ferst for Cold, and sethen for hete ; wm Hordreim

but for nethir the kyng y Eoch wolde not lete ; in the ship,

for Eathere ded there wolde he4ian be,
thanne his lord to wraththen In Ony degre ; • 708
Oper that from y Eoche he wolde gon,
Eathere the deth to sufiren Anon.

and thus In this Angwisch longe bod he there,
and In swowneng fyl In hard manere ; 712 Hetwootti,

and so longe lay he Stille As A ston, ^
That wit, syghte, ne Mynde, hadde non.
And whanne that he of swowneng A-wook, wake«,

For drede & sorewe ful sore he qwook, 716 and quakes for

fear.

and lift vpe his hed, and beheld ful faste
jif that strong hete ^it dide Owht laste.

298

M0BDRBIV8 MARVELS AT HIS LATE ADVENTURES. [CH. XXIIf.

MovdralMi
teiB|)«relf(

ftthto
•dtmitant.

aiiddoabU
irh«th«r th«j

WtTBdrMUlU

or rHlitiflk

and Whanne he sawli the day pai mesuiable was,
and but Mesurable bete In that plas, 720

As betwenes noon & hevesong scholde be,
bothe glad & loyful thanne was he ;
thanne Asaied he Anon Tpe forto stonde,
For the ranite In his bed that hadde ben longe ; 724
And whanne fat he gan vpe forto dresse,
In bed, body, ne Membres, felt be non Siknesse.

thanne stood he vp On his feet,
and there abowtes him loked fol sket, 728

and Merveilled Of the grete Aventoura
That he hadde there suffred Of dolours ;
and Of Alls this thanne felte he Hyht nowht,
Where-Offen he M/jrveillede In his thowht ; 732

and Otherwhille he thowghte A dremenge to be,
and Otherwhilles he thowhte it for Certeinte,
and Otherwhilles he Cowde Eemembren him wel
Of the Aventures thanne £verideL 736

CHAPTER XXIV.

Still of Mordreins on I%e Roche Periloms. How he sees m
ship approach the Rook with his own and Naacieni^s shields
on board, and the horse he won from Tholomes at Orcaua
(p. 299). A knight lands, and tells him that Nasciens ia
dead (p. 800). He goes on board, sees a corpse like
Nasciens's, swoons, and on waking finds himself far from
the Bock (p. 301). He makes the sign of the Cross;
and man, horse, and corpse vanish. He prays to God.
The Good Man comes to him again (p. 902), and tells
him that he shall not be deliverd till Nasciens comes to
him alive (p. 308) ; and explains that it was the Devil
who had tempted him as the Knight, the Lioness, and
the Fair Woman, who had appeared to him (p. 303). The
Good Man exhorts him to be wiser and warier than he had
been, and then vanishes (p. 808). The ship drives on (p.
304) ; the King sees a roan coming on the sea, borne up by
two birds under his feet, who sprinkles the ship with
water, and announces himself as Salustes, in whose honour
MordreiDS had built the church in Sarras (p. 304). He
explains the vision of the Lioness (p. 304), and that of

CH. XXIV.] THE SHIP WITH 2 SHIELDS AND A H0B8E ON BOARD. C99

the Streams flowing out of Monlreins's Nephew (p. 805) ;
and that he had sprinkled the sliip because it was the
Devil's and needed purifying (p. 306). He instructs Mor-
dreins how to eject Devils by Holy Water (p. 306), and
then goes, leaving the King on the ship (p. 307).

Thanne thowghte the kyng al In his herte

Of Mauie trebulacions & of peynes smerte ;

that the day was past, & wax to Eve,

thanne the kyng ful sore gan him Meve. 4

Anon thanne lokede he fer Into the See ;
A fair schip^ fast seillyng Comen sawgh he^
therto so Eichely arayed him thowhte it was,
but he nyste Of his Comeng what was y cas, 8

for so Riche A schipe,him thowghte, sawgh he neuerenon
To fore tyraes On hor water nethir Seylen lie gon,

and whanne the Schipe Aproched him ny,
Anon Into fat Schipc he lokede An hy.
and Sawgh where that liengen scheldes two ;
In y forcastel Of the Schipe they weren I-do,
Where-Inne was A towr ful Eialy I-dyht,
As semed fat tyme to the kyng In Syht ; 16

On wheche towr, As I vndirstonde,
bothe scheldes to-gederis diden they honge ;
Of wheche the ton scheld was his,
the tother Nasciens wit-Owlen Mys : 20

thus him thowghte wondirly Sore,
but Evere he Merveilled how they Comen thore.

And whiles that he stood In this thowght,
to p^ Eoche this Schip Anon was browght : 24

and as it was to that Eoche Comenge,
Of An hors he herde A wonderful Keyenge,
and so bonchede & ferde with his feet
that it thowghte the schipe to bersten In yat fleet. 28
Ano^i the kyng gan to herkene this Xeyeng,
and Merveilled ful Mochel of that thing ;
For that hors he knew there Anon
whanne he him herd so taken vppon, 32

King Kordreini

a rich ihip
oomiug.

12 In itt fore-ea«tt«
hang 2 Shieldit,

one hia ; the
other, Naacieua'a.

On It la a liorae,
which nelglia and
atampa.

300

If ASOIBNS'S CORPSE IS SAID TO BE IN THE SHIP. [cH. ZXIY.

Tin hone it that
whieh Mordrdiu
won from Tho-
lorna at OmiM.

Prom the ehip
Undi a Kniffht,

like the brother
of Mordralns'a
Steward,

who eaya Uiat

Nnsdent't corpae
la in the ahip.

And wiste wel that it was the same hors

that from kjng Tholome he gat At Orcaus,

Whiche that In the bataille he wan there ;

And the same hors he wende it were, 36

what be Keyenge and Other fare,

The same hors he wende hadde ben tharc.

And thus wondred he mochel In his thowght,

how hors & scheldes thedir weren browght. 40

thanne to the Eoche it Aplyede Anon ;
and tho to the schipward the kyng gan gon,
To beholden what peple and what Mejne
In that Schipe that he Cowde se. 44

and whanne that he gan there-Inne to beholdc,
he Sawgh Mochel peple, & Mani-folde.

And Owt Of that schipe there isswed Anon
As In Maner Of a knyht, and to him gan gon ; 48
and whanne that he gan the kyng to Aprochen Ny,
the kyng him beheld ful witterly ;
hym thowghte that be his persone & figure
an hygh Old knyght of his, I the Ensure, 52

that Brothir to his steward schold ban be,
that Slayn was at Orcaws ful sekerle.

and whanne this knyht to the kyng gan gon,
he him grette with hevy Chere Anon ; 56

and the kyng Ban to him ful faste,
and than7ie him Axede atte laste,
* Why that so Sore Abasched he was ;
he scholde him tellen Al the Cas.* 60

" A, sire," Anon quod this kniht tho,
" For the hevy tydinges jow Comen vnto ! "
" Sey me," quod the kyng, " what May it be,
Belamy, I preie the that thow telle it to me." 64

" Certes, Sire,*' quod this knyht Anon,
" the beste friend pat je hadden is now Agon,
the wheche is Nasciens, jowre brother dere,
that In this Schipe he lith ded here/' 68

CH. XXIV.] MOBDREINS SAILS AWAY PROM THE nOCK rEBlLOUS, 301

and whanne the kyng lierde him thus telle,
Anon In swowneng to the Erthe he felle ;
and Whanne pat he of his swowneng a-Wook,
Abowtes him faste he gan to look, 72

and axede his brothir forto Se,
if that Sekerly he ded there be ;
And Evere Criede lik a wood man ;
So for his brother ferde he than. 76

The knjht to the kyng gan him dresse,
that him hadde browht In this distresse,
and the kyng took fere be the left hond,
to ))• schipward to leden he gan to fond ;
So that the kyng Kiste what he dede,
So ful of sorewe he was In that stede.

and whanne the kyng y schip^ was w/t/tJnno,
he Ean to the here, & nolde not blynne, 84

and the Cloth anon vp he Caste, —
to beholden that body hadde he grct haste ;-^
There Anon thanne Sawgh he there
his brother Nasciens, As that it were,
be face, semblawnce, & body Also,
as whanne on lyye fat he dide go.
thanne Anon fyl he down In swowneng there,
hardere thanne eucre to-fore dide he Ere, 92

that Neuere to Asckapen wende fan he,
but Certein ded forto han be.

Whanne ho was waked of his Swowneng,
Of this hadde he gret Merveilleng, 96

And thowhte to axen of this knyht there
how this myhte happen, & In what Manere.
and whanne he loked Abowtes him tho ;
Eul fer from the Koche thanne was he tho ;
thanne for sorwe he fyl down Anon
In swowneng, ded as Ony ston ; \^
to-fore that bere so lay he there
ded In swowneng In this Manere. 104

Jf ordreins aski
to tee Nascimis'*
corpM.

The Knight lead*

him bj th« left
^ . hand into the
oO ihlp.

Jfordreina thiuka
thaoorpaeia
88 Naadana'a,

aadawoona.

When he wakea.

100 heiafkrftom
the Rock.

302

THB GOOD M AH AO.UN VISITS X0RDREIN8. [CH. XXIV.

Mordrdni iiiAk«

tlMftlgnofttM

Cran,

and eotpM, Imtm^
and knlf ht»
vanish.

Th« Good Man
coaica on board

ancl wamt Mor-

dreinatotakaoan

whathadoaa.

and whanne of his swowneng fat he Wok,
Anon vp his Kiht hond he took,
And the Signe of the Crois he Made Anon ;
thanne thus sone Alle weren they Agon, 108

that nethir here, hors, ne Man,
In that schip0 cowde he Se than,
and thanne gan he to wepen ful sore,
And Momeng & wringeng he made wel More, 112
" A ! Merciful Grod In Maiestie,
Now Wot I wel that I have Greved the."

and Whanne he hadde thus I-Spoke,
Forth Into the See he gan to loke ; 116

there sawgh he to-fom hym Comen Anon
the goode man that In the Schipe gan gon,
wheche that him Comforted Often Sithe,
and with his goode wordis Made him blithe. 120

and whanne he sawgh him In that Manere,
Wel ful he was Of Sorwe & Fere :
" A, sire ! " quod he, " I am deserved Sekerly
Of that 3e boden me to kepen trewly ; 124

For ful Certeinly je tolden Me Ere,
that the devel In this Manere
Me scholde Owt taken be p* left hond,
As thow didst me to vndirstond.'* 1 28

anon gan he for to wepen tho :
And whanne this good man say him do so,
he seide, " Sir« kyng, wepe thow no More ;
he hath the tempted Often tymes sore, 132

but here-Aftir the behoveth Eft-sone
To taken good keepe that Is to done."

Thanne seide the kyng to this good man tho,
*' Now, goode sire, telle me what I schal do ; 136

and as thow knowest Alle thing,
So wisse me Of begynneng & Endeng,
And how that I schal Govemen Me ;
For Goddis love, Sire, this preie I the." HO

CH. XXIV.] IT WAS THB DEVIL WHO TEHFTED MORDREIXS.

303

tlianue this good [man] seide to him Aje,
*' 3ifc manie spitful Merveilles schalt ])ou se ;
and £ten Ne drynken schalt pon neuere Moi
til thy brothir Kasciens Come the before,
As Cristen Maii, and qwyk levenge ;
Kow take pon this for newe tydynge.
And whanne thou sixt him In that degre,
thanne After, thy leverau»c6 Sone schal be.

" For wete f ou wel ful Certeinle,
It was the devel that was with the,
that told the how that Nasciens was ded,
and that jaf the Swich Conceyl & Eed ;
For he is Eedy, In feld & In town,
Goddis schep to don distrocciown.

" and the devel it was Also
that In thin Avisiown Cam ]>^ to ;
the Mete that p* lyown f • browghte,
he it Awey bar, & lefte the Nowghte.
and 3it I wele that pou knowe More Also,
that it was the devel that Cam the to
In liknesse Of A womman,
and sweche wordes to y spak than ;
Also the devel ful Sekir was he
that Owt of the Roche he browhte p*,

" Therfore hens forward I wame the,
that bothe wisere & warere pat thou be ;
For swich thinges here- After schalt pou se,
that to Endeles deth wolden bringen the,
jif ^ thou the bettir wit ne have,
thy body [&] thi sowle forto save,*'

and no» More to hym he gan to Say,
but with that word he partid A-way,
that he ne wiste where he becom
Owt of his syhte, bothe Al & som.
and thus in the Schipa Alone lefte he,
Floteringe Amyddes the hye Se.

1^4 TiUNasoiens
oomM to hltti.

148

152

Mordreint shall
not b* dellverd.

It was ths DevU
who told him
Nasdens was
daad.

156

and who took
aw«j his food

(p. tso, aw;,

160 tempted him a«
the Fair Woman,

X64 and bronght him
off the Bock.

168

P MS lit]

172 TheOoodUan

176

3')4 B.VLUST£S COM&l ON BOARD UORDREINS*S SHIP. [CH. XXIT.

u .rdrwini'i iihip the wjnd Lim blew, now here, & now there ;

Ik blown Aboul

um mm. thus Nyht and day he ferde In fere,

that Eesting plase ne fond he non,

til On the Morwo it waa passed noon. 180

thanne the kynge vpe him dressed tho,

And to- ward the forschipe he gan to go,

and loke ful fer Into the See ;
HeteetaMAn A man there Comeng him thowghte say he, 184

that Of leveng Schold he be bothe good and hye,*
The Man is boroe 'sour Tiaue ausi com tout a pic. Et qt/ant il fu

up by two birds ...

under hu fwt, pries, si vit desous ses .\j. pies, deus oisiaus qui le

soustenoient et le portoient si tost et si isnelement com

comes on board nul oisiol peussent plus tost uoler. £t qusLid il vint a

inakM tjie Agn of la uef, si s*aresta, et commencha a faire le signe de la

the cro4S, and ... , . . . ,

ukea up water lit saiuto crois sour la mer, et prenoit a ses deus mains
bands, I'iaue de la mer, sans dire mot. Et li rois Tesgardoit,

si se meruilloit moult durement qui il pooit estre, et
aprinkieaUie pour quoi il faisoit chel arousemc/it par la nef. Et
quant li hom eut touto la nef arousee, si parla au roi,
et si li dist, ** Mogdanis ! " Et li rois se meniilla mot/It
and t«iis the Kin? qr/ant il s'oi apieler par son non de baptesme ; Si re-
fender siaiukt««. spondi, " sire : " Et li boins hom li dist, '* Je sui tes
deifenderes, tes garans, apres ihf^u crist. Je sui sa-
who<e c'inrrh he lutcs, chil en qui uou et en qui honeur tu as establie la
liche cgliso en la chite de sarras ; si te sui venus con-
sillier et conforter. Et si te mande li aigniaus par moi,
and that the Wolf chil qui eu'* t'auisiou t'aportoit les boines viandes ke
away li lous te toloit, chil to mande par moi, pour chou

ke il veut ke tu le saches mieus ke tu as le leu uencu.
Et che fu par le signe de la crois ke tu fesis sour toi,
quant tu te veis si eslongie de la roclie. Lors te laissa

' There is no break in the English MS, but it goes straight
on with the new subject of Celidoyne in prison, p. 309. The
copier of it must have left out a column or page of his
original.

■ MS XIV. E. iii. leaf 41, back, col. 2, at foot

* MS chil en qui est.

8ALUSTES EXPLAINS HORDREINS's VISION OF THE 0 STREAMS. 305

li leus ; che fu li dyables qui s'enfui, qui deuant wm the Dero,
t'auoit tolues toutea lea boines viandea ke li aingniaua
t'aportoit ; Ch*estoient lea boinea parolea ke li horn de
la nef te diaoit toute iour. Chil home eatoit li aigniaua, <md that th«

Lamb who

qui en t'avision t'aportoit lea boinea viandea. Et broaghthim

. -i«ii>*> !• •!• meat was Jaana

sachea que en eat cnia aigniaus qui pour lumain lignaige curiat.
fa cruce^ea, et ch'eat ihe^u^ cnat, li fiex de la uirge.
chil qui chaacun iour to uenoit conforter, Chil m'a chi

■

enuoiet a toi, pour deacouurir t'auiaion, enai com il le

te demouatra, Si ke tu aachea ke ele aenefie. Tu ueia aaiastes expiaint

. Mordreint's

de ton neueu iaair .i. grant lac, et de che lach ai naia- vision of the

. . n • 2^ • A f ••• t 31 xi. Lake and Nine

soient .IX. nun. ai eatoient li .viij. parel, d un grant et streams (oh. ir,

d'une aamblanche. £t li nueiuamea, qui tout daerraina ^

sourdoit, eatoit ausi grans et ausai biaua com tout li

autre enaamble. Li las eatoit moult clera et mult

biaua. Et tu eagardea en haut, ai veia .j. homme venir The Lake maam

.a Son of Mor-

qui auoit le aamblanche del urai cruchefi. Et qi^ant il dreins's nephew.

fu deacendus a terre, ai entra el lac, toua nua pies, et

sea gambes el lac, Et *en tout lea .viij. fluna ausi. Et [^leafiE]

quant il auoit en tout lea .viij. fluna fait ensi com uoua

auea oi, ai uenoit au nuefuiame; Lora se deapoiUoit

iou8 nua, et ai ae baignoit treatoua desdena. Chil laa

ki de ton neueu naissoit, aenefie vn fil qui de lui

iatra; Et en lui baignera ihe^u^ criat aea pica et aes

gambes. Che est a dire, ke il sera aouatenemens urais,

et fine colombe de la sainte creanche au sauueour. De

chelui istront li .ix. flun : che seront .ix. persones and the d streams,

. . 9 suooesaoFB of

d'omes qui de lui descenderont. Et ai ne seront il mie his,
tout .ix. si fil, anchois descendront par droite engen-
reure, li vns del autre. Et tout li .viii. seront auqu^s
parel de boine vie : Mais li nueuismes sera asses de to the 9th of

* whom

grignour hauteche et de grignour merite. Et pour
chou qu'il vaintra tons les autres de toutes bontes, pour
chou se baignera en lui ihesxis cria trestous. Et si n*i
baisnera pas uestus, mais tons nua : Car il se despoil- Christ shall dis-

® ^ ' ., ,. , close his hidden

lera deuant lui en tel maniere ke il h descouuera ses secrets.

QBAAL. 20

^06

WHT BALUSTOS 8FRINKLD X0BDREIK8*S SHIP. [OH. ZZIT.

Of illi> IMphCW*!

Angvl who plirat
JoMphtpoktb

ADd his ho4f
■haU work
mlraolM.

BaliwtM Mxt
•zpUins why h«
■prinkld Um
•blpj

to pntliy It from
thtDtvU.

For Dtrllt fttf
thoalgnofttM
Cro«.

At nqr bad plaos,
Xordrelna is to
WflM wator.

tod wh««t«r It

la iprlnkld,

no Davll will go.

grans secres, cheus ke il n'ara onques descouaers a nul
homme morteL Chil sera plains de tontes icheles
bontes ke cors d*ome ne cuers doiuent soustenir ; Et si
en passera tous chiaus qui deuant lui aront este, £t tous
chiaus qui apres lui seront, qui de porter armes s'en-
tremetront. Che sera chil de qui li angeles parla a
sarras, quant H feri iosephe de la lanche nengeresse,
Q»ant il dist 'ke iamais les meruelles del graal ne
seroient descouu^rtes a homme mottel fors ch'a .i tout
aeul.' Chil sera li nueuismes des oirs qui descendront
del fil a ton neueu; £t si sera teus com tu m'as oi
deuiser. Mais les grans miracles et les bieles uirtus
qui par lui auenront en la tarre ou ses cors girra^ ne
seront pas seues qu'il auiegnent par lui; Car a chel
tans sera moult peu de cheus ki sachent uraies nouieles
ne ensegnes de sa sepulture. Or t'ai auques parle de
t'auision. Ore te parlerai de cheste nef, pour quoi iou
Tai arousee ensi com tu as reu. La nef si fu au dyable,
qui la sainte crois ^ncacha qz^nt tu en fesis le signe.
Et pour chou que ele estoit soie, ne pooit il estre qui
n*i reuenUt aucune fie, se ele ne fust mondee. mais ore
est ele toute purefijee des ordures et des malices qui
conuerse i ont, par I'arousem^^nt de Tiaue, qui par le
signe de la sainte crois est saintef^jo, et par le coniure-
ment de la sainte trinite. Ne iamais nus mais esperis
n'i enterra ; Car il ne doutent tant nule riens com il
font le signe de la crois et le coniurement de la sainte
creancbe. Et se tu uiens en lieu ki soit doutables a
entrer,'si* pren de Tiaue, et si le purifie tout auant par
le signe de la sainte crois, et en apres par le coniure-
ment du pere ei du fil et du saint esperit. Et par
cheste beneichon sera I'iaue toute netoie et mondee de
toutes ordures. Et en quelco/iqu^s lieu ke ele soit
espandue par boine creanche, ia dyables no sera si oses
qu^ il aille, anchois fuira tous iours le lieu, ei eslongera.
En cheste maniere fai ; si porras estre seuis ke ia, en

GH. XXV.] OF NASGIENS IN OAIAFERB's PRISON. 307

lieu ou ta le fkclies, dyablos n'ara pooir de faire nule
chose a ton cors poor quo! Tame de toi soit dampnee."
A tant se teat 11 sains hom, si s'en pai'tL £t 11 rois xordrrina itayt

in the ihip.

lemest en la nef ensi com vous Taues oL si se taist ThetaiegoMto

Kaieioiis.

atant 11 contes de lui^ et parole de nascien.

CHAPTER XXV.

Of NASOIEN& How, when he was imprisond, the cursed
Galafere had charge of his lands and him and put him in
a dark dungeon (p. 307), bound him hand and foot, and
also oonfind his young son Celidoine, whose name means
* g^ven to heaven ' (p. 308), and at whose birth at mid-
day the sun disappeard, and the moon and the stars shone
clear (p. 308). On the 17th night of their imprisonment,
Nasciens dreams that a hand strikes off his chains. Ha
feels that he is free (p. 309). A light shines, and a fair
white hand lifts him out of prison (p. 310), and leads him
out of the castle of Calafere (p. 310), who pursues him
(p. 311). Nasciens is protected by the Hand (p. 312).
Calafere falls from his horse (p. 313) and is found,
stampt on the right cheek with an angel*s hand, and on
the left with his foot (p. 314). Calafere orders water to
be thrown on his right cheek (p. 315), and is then carrid
up to the battlements of his castle, from which he orders
Cielidoine to be thrown (p. 317). When Celidoine is in
mid-air, nine hands catch him and bear him o£f (p. 318).
Vengeance on Calafere is proclaimd from Heaven. A
thunderbolt strikes the castle, and Calafere's body flies in
pieces (p. 319). The reports of his death, and of Nas-
ciens^s deliverance, get abroad ; the barons go to Queen
Sarraoynte to ask pardon for imprisoning her brother
(p. 320) ; and she sends five messengers out to seek him
(p. 321).

CHI endroit dist U contes, ke nasciens fu mis, en
tel maniere com yous aues oi, en la prison. Et
si le prist en garde chil chit^akis mescreans HowC^Aftrehu

. ehargeofNas-

qoi estoit apieles calafier, Et ki tant estoit desloiaus et ei«na in priaon

traitres comme H contes a deuise cha en arriere. Et

par le consel de chestui fu 11 pris, plus ke par tons les

autres. Ghis ch/ualers le prist en gaide sour toute se

t«rpe auant, et sour la vie aprcs. Et qv^ant il Teut en

sa bailliey si fu moult orguilleus vers lui, et lui fist darkdongMn,

308

NASCIENS'S SON, CKLIDOTNE, IS IMPRISOND WITH HUf . [CH. XXV.

■Bd dialiM him
baaduMllbo^

and alio {rata In
priaon with him
hla yoimg Mm.

whoM n«m« wu
(MidolIl^

that la, * giTtn
tohatTao}'

and at wboaa
birth

at mid-daj In

jQlj

tha aan baeama
aaat dawn.

and tha moon
andatara ahona

motdt dare prison et moult felenesse. II fa mis el
fons d'une fosse noire et tenebrouse. II fu destoornes
de touts la eompaignie et del solas as gens. H manga
pen, et but H ne se pooit aidier de nol menbre qtie
il eusty Car il auoit les mains aasi enchainees comme
les pies. Toutes eures estoit d'une senle contenanche,
sans estre desuestus'ne descauchies ; anchois gisoit par
nuit en sa reube et en sa cauclieuie. . £t quant il ot
mis en si angoisseuse prison, encor ne li fu il pas asses
de lui tourmenter. Ancbois fist ke il ot .i. sien iil
ensamble o lui qui motdt estoit de iouene eage, Car il
n'auoit encbore ke .vij. ans et .y. mois . Chil estoit
mcmlt biaus, et moult sambloit estre de gentil Hgnage
estrais ; Si estoit apieles el baptesme ' celidoines.' Et
chil nons fu moult bien eonuenables a Tenfant, selono
la vie ke il mena puis ; Car ' celidoines ' vaut autrestant
a dire et a senefijer en latin comme ' dounes au chiel ; '
Car il eut toute sa uie son cuer et s*entente mise en
celestiaus oeures, £t sent d'astrenomie tant com nus en
pent plus sauoir en boine entension et en droite. Et a
son naissement auint en la cbite d'orberike une moult
grant meruelle qui n'estoit mie acoustumee a auenir.
Car il nascui en .i. moult caut iour d'este, et mult biel,
en droit miedi. Et si fu el secont iour des kalendes en
iunget {aic). Et quant il fu nes a tel eure com youb
aues oi, Si auint chose tout maintenant, ke li solaus,
qui en sa grignour colour deuoit estre, a chel eure
s'aparut ausi apertement com il fait au matin quant il
lieue ; Et la lune fu ausi clerement veue comme s*il fust
nuisy ei les estoiles tout ensement En che fu chertaine
senefianche ke il serroit de toutes les celestienes uirtus
curieus et encherkieres et urais counissieres. Par
icheles demoustranches fu la natiuites a Tenfant sene-
f\je. Et il fu raisons ; Car sa vie fu puis tele com la
senefianche demoustra. Et les paroles qui chi ap7'e8
venront en esclairont la verite.

CH« XXV.] KASCIEK8 IS FBBBD FROM HIS CHAINS.

309

and this Child, had Calefere In pr/sown fere
Fill xvii dajes In that Manere.'

So it be-happed, that the Sevententhe Nyht
As he there sat, I telle the Eyht, 4

Vppon his Cowche to Slombren hym list, —
he was so hevj, what to don he Nyst, —
and as he was In his Slombrenge,
hym thowghte he hadde a wondir Metenge, 8

So that hym )>ouhte An hond there was,
that be bothen Armes him held In that plas ;
and, As A man that Slepte ful sore,
the hond he wolde han put Awey thore ; 12

and the Same hond him Cawht Ageyn,
And Ajen In his Slep« he it voided ful pleyn.

thanne thowghte him that the hond tho
alle his Chenes to-barst vnto,
Mochel mawgre Of him that there lay,
Where-Offon he hadde A ful gret fray.

and whanne he felte that it was so,
Nethir Cryen ne speke ne myhte he tho ; 20

thanne Abasched was he ful sore
Of the noyse that he herde thore.
and whanne that vpe he gan him dresse,
and felte him Self Owt of distresse, 24

hyse hondes & Feet he gan drawen him to,
and Felte vnbownde that he was tho,
and that Alle his Chenes to-fom him lye ;
thanne thanked he god ful Solempnie. 28

Whanne he was Comen to the presown doro,
That ful blak and dirk it was to fore,
there Cam Owt tho A schyneng lyht,
as thowh it were of A lyghtenyng so briht ; 32

thanne loked he Aboven his hed,
And him thowghte he sawgh In })r/t steil,

* Chelui enfant eut calnfier en prison auoeo son pere
nasoien. 8i demoura nascienii bien .xvij. ioura en tel prison coii\
Yous auea oi. — A.

Thl> Oalldotiifl^
Oalafore IcMpt lu
IiriMa wltii Nm*
oient tar 17 days.

On tiM 17th night
KMctona drHtms
ttMtahniMl

16 tmnU hiadialns.

H«rlm,ftela

Uiai he's Aw,

and eoQiM to thi
priaondoor.

310 NASOnSNB IS BORNE OUT OP PRISON TO CALAFERE*S BED. [cH. XXT.

A white hand

fttNB htftTtllf

with and ami.

Owt of the hevene there Aperid An by
A fair whit hond, hym thowhte Trewlj,
Whiche that him bar, as him thowlitey
and Owt of that preson there him browhte
Sowfe : the arm, Bed as feer it was, /
as thike tyme him thowhte In that plas,

86

40

una NaKim oot Whiche bond him took by his her,

ofUMpriton by '' '

htohair.

and bean him
throagh iha air

to Calaf^re'i
b«Uida.

44

48

and Owt of that prraown bar him ther ;

and the sieve lokede as be semblaunse

As Red as fir with-Owten variaunce ;

but nonthing Ellis ne Myhte he 8e,

but Onlyche the bond there Sekerle,

Sowf be tlie Arm, him thowghte, I-voluped was

the semblauuce of a body In that plas ;

but the body Openly ne was not sein,

As I sey jow In Certein ;

and In this mariero sawh Nasciens tho

bond and body to-Gederis bothe two. 52

And whanne that Aboven the Erthe he was there,
that the Erthe he felte in non Manere,
Wondirly Abasched he was Certeinlye,
that what to done he Ne wiste trewlye.
and thus the hand On lofte it bar him thar,
that he ne wiste whedir-ward ne ^har,
Wheche that groved him Nothing,
Nethir hire ne there In non thing ;
Nethir be the beryng Of his her.
It Greved him ryht nowher.

and whanne In the Eir he was so bye,
that Onue-the to y preson he myhte sen trwlye,
fane lad him forth this bond In bye —
lik as this storie doth vs to vndirstond fullye —
tyl he Cam to-fore Calafer,
In his bed as he lay Sleping ther.

and whanne to the dore that he gan gon,
A^ens him it Opened there Anon,

66

60

64

68

OH. XXY.]

CALAFJCBB PUBSUBS XASCIENS.

311

bothe dore posteme, and Ek the gate,
and Owt this hond lad him there-Ate ;
and Euere to fore the hond wen^,
& he it folwede with good Entente
til the Maiflter Gate that he was past,
Whiche gate gan to Chirken In hast,
as though A man hadde ben there
That Owt hadde stalked for drede & Fere.
Whanne Nasciens was thens A stones cast,
A3en he lokede Anon In hast ;
anon him thowghte there In his Mynde
that Al On fyre It wt^ him behinde.
and whanne the peple Of the plase
Aspiden that it On Fire wase,
Gret Noise thej maden, and deolf ol Crj,
Wherwith Calafer Awook Sekerly,
and Open he fond bothe dore & Gate,
As Nasciens was gon Owt there-Ate,
anon thanne to the presown dore he wente,
that Al Open there was veramente ;
Wondirlj abasched thanne was he tho,
that vndir hevene he liiste what to do.
On Of his Seriawntes he Cleped Anon,
and bad him Into p* presown to Gon ;
and whanne y presown he was with-Inne,
Of Nasciens ne sawh he ne^r more ne Mynne ;
and whanne Calafer herde tellen Of this,
Owt Of his wit he ^as with-Owten Mis,
and so gret Sorwe he gan to Make,
that Nena^-e Man gan so On take.

thanne was browght to him An hors there,
and Into the Sadel sprang Calafere,
With a scharpe Swerd On honde ;
and Al his Mejne that there gonne stonde,
hem he Charged Aftir to hye,
Euery Man be his weys sekerlye ;

72 ThtHudlMuIfl

7$

Ifaadcnt ttiroofrh

80

84

Calaftre, finding
that KaMtemi hM

88

9S

96

100

ridianftir him.

104

312

THE HAND HIDES NASCIEKS FROM GALAFBRE. [CH. ZXT.

Calaflnv
Nuoiaiis,

bat the Hand

hidMandprotaeta

him.

ThaHandia
wondroualy
brighter than
thaaan.

Calafere cannot
And Naacieoa.

So that a path there fond he Anon,

And In-to that path gan he to gon, 108

& Evere was the hond Schineng to-fore, —

a Wondirful liht As him thouhte thore ;-^

the nyht, Pesible and fair it was,

Ke A softere Kyht neuere there Kas. 112

his hors he prekid wondirlj faste,
& loked forth to fom hem atte laste,
and saugh where that Nasciens wente,
for him he knew ful wel veramente, 116

as he him Often to fome hadde sein,
him thouhte it was he In Certein.

and whanne Kasciens Say him come thanne,
Anon wax Nasciens A ful sory Manne ; 120

but Evere the hond him held ful faste,
And him Ouer spradde there In haste,
that Openly thowght tho Nascien
the body to the hond Sawh he then ; 124

and so faste him thowhte it took him ther,
that Neuere Erthly tonge Cowde telle Er ;
For it Was Of so M«*veillous Clarte tho,
so ful of bnhgtenesse, & hot Schineng therto, 128

that In the hattest day Of the jer
f* Sonne not so briht is as the body was ther,
Not be An hundred part Of Clemesse ;
this putte Nasciens In Moche sekemesse. 132

but Natheles ful wondirfulli sore Adrad he was,
that he fyl In Swowneng In that plas,
So that nethir he ne saw ne felte non thing,
So sore was this Nasciens In Swowneng. 136

thanne prekid ful faste this Calafere,
and loked Abowtes bothe here and there,
and In plase where ^ai he say Nasciens ;
But tho was not he In his presens ; 140

and Evere Abowtes he loked faste,
and Nothing he ne Say til at the laste,

OH. XZV.] GALAFSBE SWOONS AND FALU3 FBOM HIS H0R8B.

313

that Alle the weje & al the plas

there As him thowhte that Nasciens was, 144

him thowhte it was On flawmeng fer^ —

As him thouhte that tymes Calafer ; —

And the Arm that was voluped In Cloth so Bed^ y

him thowhte it bronneng fer In that sted, 148

that so wondirlj Sore Abasched he was,

that for AUe the world he ne dorste In that plas

Kot Ones Owt of his Sadil Alyhte,

but down i swowneng he fyl anom Ryht. 152

For Of this Merveille so Sore Abascht he waSj

That ded I swowneng lay he In that plas.

thus lay Calafer long In Swownenge,
and homward his hors ful faste Bennenge
From the place that he Cam fro,
A gret pas homward gan he to go.
And whanne that the peple of the howshold
this hors thus Comenge Gonne beholde, 160

And here lord was left behinde ;
this was gret wondir In here Mynde,
and Siker wenden here lord hadde ben ded,
be Comeng Of the hors In that Sted. 164

and whanne it Was On the Morwe lyht of day,
Echo man Of his Meyne wente his way
For to seken hem with here powere,
jif Ony Of hem myhte him fynden there ; 168

but they ne Cowde weten In non Manere
What weye that took this Calafere.

but it happed, As they sowhten bo)>* to & fro,

Odatotthlnlu
th« Arm !■ bani«
ingflrt.

Htiwoooi,
•nd flail off hto
hone.

156 Tht hofw gaUopt

Next mofninf
CalaAre'a men
■Mkfcrhim,

that somme of hem there gonne to go
Into the weye there that he lay ;
Whiche was to hem A gret Afray,
Whanne they syen here Lord \er^ ded.
To Alle here syghtes In that sted ;
There they gonnen him vp dressen Anon,
but foot On to stonde hadde he neuere On ;

172

and find him
looktngMlfdMd.

176

S14 OALifSBK 18 FOUND STAMPT WITH A HAVD AND FOOT. [OH. XXT.

thow A man scholde han smeteA Of his bed,

he ne myhte meven non lyme In that sted. 180

cdftta^tflMit and than behelden they In his face^

rfftewUkftiM^ And On the Riht side ^ere waa a apace^
As it were the forme Of An hond
that him hadde towched, I yndirstond ; 184

ud on tiM Ml And On the lefte side hem boohte they aye
the fonne Of A foot wel Sekerly,
that loyned to the hond it was,

tht hMdHDMk M Wondirfully Red In that plas, "^ 188

As Owt Of the Forneys Comef» flawmea of fire ;
So thowht h^m the Markes of Calafere ;

tho tMUurk ■• ibut Only the Mark that Of the foot was.

Aa blak As pich waa In that plaa : ^ 192

and his Nose, as ys it waa Cold ; ^

Al thus his Meine On him gonne behold*

For whanne he waa Comen to his Ostel,

and Ada wed he was Echo del, 196

he cowde wel tellen Of Al thing,

Where-Offen he hadde gret Merveillyng.

odaibft'o BMB and whanne they him fownde In thia Maasre,

boar him booM"

wudB, they gonne him dresse bom forto here, 200

but In gret drede they weren Echon
botboMithor that membre ne Meven Myhte he non —
nortpMikA. Nether Eye to Opene, ne mowth to speke ;

lo ! thus god On him Nasciens gan wreke ; — 204

but Sekir they wende he hadde ben ded,

For Of him ne Gowden they non Ojier Bed.

And thus they boren him In this Haneie

hom to his plase with drede & fere, 208

that neuisre spak word be Al the weye^

ne)>6r Eye ne Opened Certeinlye,

Ne Nethir foot ne hond myhte to him diawe ;

this was to hem A wonderful Sawe. 212

■— ' Bt li flains del pie estoSt tout ansi noin qom est |)oifi.
Et 8l ettoit |1 QoizB ausi frois oom est glaoha; at 11 Tennaus ert
ausi eaoi oomme fut. — A.

CALA7ERB IS CARBID HOME. HIS FAOA IS BURNT TO THB BOK£. 315

216

220

228

and wliaime to his hows with him they Come^
Wif, Child, & his Mejne Al & some,
Abowtes him gannen to drawen wel faste,
and AUe Of him weren sore Agaste,
that ded In the plase he hadde I-be,
Ke non Othir thing Of him ne Cowde they se ;
So that In A bed they dyden him leye
Al so Eselye As they Cowde Certeinlye ;
and alle, gret Mone Abowtes him they made,
For there nas non that Oper cowde glade.

And whanne it was abowtes the Koon,
Wondirly to Cryen he gan fere Anon ;
and his wif to him Ban ful fiutOy
as a womman that hadde gret haste,
and wondirly Sore A&ayed jhe was
Of his noise sche herde In that plas.
And whanne he of his swown^ng Awook,
he Opened his Eyen, & gan vp^ to look ;
and abowtes him thanne he loked pai« faste^
and water bad bringen At the laste,
Forto qwenchen that fer so stronge
that In his £ue hadde brend so longe.
thanne Konnen forth his Seriawntes Anon,
And Aftir water they gonne to gon,
And Gasten it On bothe Sides Of his face
To quenchyn ^* fyr in )Kit place,
thanne it semed to hem Eo^richon
that thike side was brent In to y bon ;
And the bon, As whit it lay ^
lik as doth Chalk In )>• Clay ; *
And the flesch that was fere Abowte,
It semed ful Hosted with Owten dowte.

' i. e, Boulder-drift clay ; saoh, for example, as Ib well
near Blj, where, by a great down-throw faul^ the ohalk having
been brought to the sur&oe, Bubsequent denudation out away
the great oliff bo formed, and a new deposit, in which the pieces
of chalk are Boattered about like suet in a badly made plum*
puddingy filled the hollow. — H. Seeley.

CalaforetolaM
in bad.

224 walM^udcrlt^,

232

•adafkifiMr
waltr to qifttneh
tbt bnrnliig of
tht hand-mark
oabiaflnti

236

240 tetttlftanitc
tbaboM,

which looka Ilka
ehalkinolaj.

244

316

CALAFERB 18 FI7RIOU8 AT HIS CX>iaNO DEATH. [CH. XXV.

Catoltm'tMl*
ehMkmarkto
UaokkiMleoU.

IhromiMilt,
Im iwoom*

Ht la wroth at
Ida conlag 4aaih.

Haaakaaboat

Kaactona.

And, on flndlnf
that ha la not
eangbtt

ohlan Celidoyna
tobabrooffht

DCwOW BUD*

And thanne the lefle Side they gonne beholde^
wheche pat was bothe blak & Colde,
Of wheche he myhte sufiren non towcheng
For non good Of Erthly thing ; 248

and whanne y water On that side they gonne to caste,
A wondirful Cry he made atte laste,
& with that he fyl In Swowneng,
So that Of lif of him hadde non man supposing, 252
but that fully ded he hadde I-be
£u6re wit7/-0wten Ony Recou<5re.

and whanne Of swowneng he Cam Agayn,
his Eyen Opened he thanne Certein, 256

and seide, & pleynede him wel More,
and seide that deth negheden him wel sore,
thanne gan he to wrathen Anon,
And seide, " schal I deyen thus son, 260

that thus am fallen In Maledye,
and neuere In better poynt I was trewlye
to han lyved be jeres and be day ;
and now I trowe I passe my way ;" 264

thanne Cursed he the tyme that he was bore,
that In Swich manure Scholde deyen thore.

thanne whanne he was Awalced wondirly wel,
after Nasciens Enqwered he Every del 268

thanne they Of his howshold ful Snelle
Of him non tydinges ne Cowden they telle,
Nethir tokene ne Signe In non degre ;
and thus him they tolde thanne Certeinlie. 272

and whanne that he herde this tyding,
Anon he ill A^en there tho In swowneng.

and whanne Of his swowneng Awook he pere^
he Comaunded Anon pat In Alle Manere 276

Anon Nasciens sone to-foren him bringe,
and he scholde tellen him newe tydinge.
And whanne to forn him this Child gan gon,
Thanne seide this Calafer to him Anon, 280

CALAFBRB OBDEKS CELIDOTNE TO BE THROWN FROM THE OASTLB. 317

* That On him he wolde Avenged be,

For his fader from him wente In that degre ;

and for his deseisse he Suffred therfore,

On hym Avenged he wolde ben thore.' 284

thanne Comanded Sire Calafere
that Child Anon forto Slen there,
thanne fil down Calaferes wif Anon,
and prejde him this thing not forto don ; 288

"and 3if Algates 30 welen him Sle,
In presoun stille so let him be,
and Bathere hym Enfamjne there,
thanne him to slen In this Manere." 292

And he that was ful Of Coruptioun «^
as Ony tigre, Other wilie lyown,
Owther Ony Other Savage beste
that han non Resoun, neper lest ne meste, 296

' but algates On him Avenged wolde he be,
thowh that him self there scholde [him] Sle.'

thanne Cleped he his Seriawntes AnoTi )>6re,
And Comau»ded ]^at In to p* towr they scholde him here
In his bed ; Al so sik as that he was, 301

he wolde be bom In to that hye plas ;
and he Comanded Aftir him to bringe
Nasciens Sone with-Owten tarienge. 304

and they fulfilden his Comandement ;
him they Tpe boren verament ;
and Aftyr hym, Celidoyne, Nasciens sone,
For hym they maden ful gret Mone. 308

and whanne this Celydoine was vp6 I-browht,
Calafer, this Terant, for-gat it nowht
there that Child forto spille.

Wit venamous herte & £vel wille. 312

thanne Anon his seriawntes he gan to Calle,
And Comanded the Child to throwen ouer the walle,
that with his £yen he myhte it sen.
For sekir non Othirwise ne scholde it ben* 316

•ad fwean hell
tak« Tengttaiiee

PeafMj
00 him.

Oilaftrt't wir«
prtya him not to
km CaUdoyiM,

tmt he deeUrM
hewiU.

CalaforehM

himMtfairrid
Qp the tower uf
hitoMtle,

and ordm hie
men to throw
Celidoyne off it.

318

GBUDOTHB IB OAUOKT IN XID-AIB BT 9 HAKD8. [oH. ZXV.

throw OvIidojM
orar tiM tatU«-

WlMttlMlaln
mId-aIr,

9 •nov'^rhlta ^^
hMidi OBtoh him.

and bear him
•way.

Wberfore deol & Sorwe they maden Echon
For that dede that they scholden don ;
but they ne doiste not Oflfenden hia Comaojideinefity
but Anon it fulfilde there present 320

they token ype this Child Anon,
And leften him Above AUe p* werk Of aton ;
and whanne Calafer him Sawh so hye,
down him to Caste he bad hem hye ; 32i

Anon hiB biddeng fulfil they there,
and threwen him down In here Manere ;
thanne this tyraunt gan vp to Rise
To sen this Child taken his I-wise, — ^38

So fill he was Of Crwelte
As Evere Ony tyraunt myht be ; —
And whanne y Child was Middis his faUynge,
AUe Aftir him loked with-Owten tanenge, 332

and wende that to y Erthe he schold haue gon,
and his lemes to-borsten Everichon ;
but Anon As that they lokeden Owte,
they sien ix. hondes that child Comen Abowte, 336
that lik As Snow they weren so whit — y
Whiche to soimme Of hem was gret delyt ; —
and this Child they henten Anon
In this Maner tho Everichon, 340

two hondes to the Ryht Arm they wente,
and tweyne to y left Arm veramente,
tweyno to the left leg, & tweyne to J»* Ryhte,
and On to hed Openly In here syhte ; 344

And. In this Manure these Nyne hondis
browhte Celidoyne Ow[t] Of Califeris bondis
With-Owten Ony Of the Erthe towching :
this was to Calafer gret Merveillyng ; 348

and Evere he lay and beheld ful faste
tyl that the Child was fer from him paste ;
and whanne this beheld Sire Caiafere,
that this Child was boren so fer, 352

Oa. XXV.] A THUNDEBBOLT SPLITS CALAFERB IN FIECfiS.

319

Tot aorwe be fil In swowneng Anon.

thanne Owt Of that towr Gan fer gou,
of wondiiful dirknesse gret plente,
that non Of hem Mihte Oper there se ; 356

and aftir this dirknesse there spak A voyssOi
that Alle they herden A wondirful Noisse,
that ' to him whiche was Goddis Enemy,
yeniawnce to him scholde Neyhen ful ny.' 360

and Anon As this word was seide there,
Ful wondirfol Noise, & In dredful Manere.
It Gan to thondren & lyhtene ful faste,
that semed Al the Eyr scholde to-berste, 364

and that it were ful domesday ;
thus weren they Alle In gret Afiray,
So that Alle the Meyne that weren there
Forsoken here lord Calafere 368

that stille lay swowneng In that tour;
hym they forsoken with mochel dolour.

And Anon As from him they weren I-went,
A Fyr from hevene Com there prraent,
and Of that towr hit smot the left partie
down Into the Middes ful Sekerlye,
In whiche partie that lay Sire Calafere.
So yeniablely was he Slayn there, 376

that Er to the Erthe he Cam A-down,
the pecis of his body fledden In-virown,
and non of his Other Meyne

hadden non harm In non degre, 380

Sawf Only for drede In here syht,
that In here hertes they weren Afryht ;
for CrUtened thei weren Everichon,
and Chosen his plesaunse to don,
and to the Trenite they hadden hem take.
And forsaken Alle the develis so blake.

behold what God wile for his man do !
him kepen from Evcl for Evert? Mo ! 388

Thick darkiMM

A toIm prooliUitts

Tengeanot agiUntt
God*t aiMray.

Thnndtraad
lighknliHr

A ufV^MK fnJIll
^ bMT«n tplita the
372 toftofthsTovtr,

•ndthitten
Onlaferv't body
toplflcw.

Hit Chrlttlim
attendanU art
384 not bait.

I^OMttlL

320 THB BARONS BSO PARDON POR IMFRI80N1N0 NA8CIEN8. [cH« ZXV.

And thusy now As 30 han herd herQ told,
paste this Calafer, that was So bold,
From worldly lif to Evere-lastyng peyne.
As this storie thus doth vs to seyne. 392

NtwoftiM and thus sone thorw al the Contre

ckns ud Gill- this word gan Springe Certeinle,

how that Nasciens Owt of preson was goa —
Where-Offen weron glad ful Manion, — 396

And Of his Sone Also there,
how that he Aschaped, & in what Man^T^e.

And whanne Saracynte herde Of this tydyng,
Ful loyful sche was In Alle thing, 400

And beleved it ful Certeinlye
that it was thorwh goddis Mercye,
and thorwh him they weren vnbownde
Where so Evere they weren that ilke stownde ; 404
Wei wiste sche be Crist it Was I-don,
Alle these poyntes thanne Everichon.

TiMBHwithMr thanne Alle the Barowns that Of b* Hem were,

Ittoo^

To Sarras to qwene Saracynte Comen there, 408

Whanne they wisten the trewthe Of delin^raunce,
That Nasciens was happed Swich A chaunce,
and Of the veniaunce Of Calafere
That God Sodeinly On him took there ; 412

thanne thus they dowtcd hem Everychon,
lest Grod veniaunce hem Wolde senden vppoii,
For here fals Wil and Conceiityng,
Of Nasciens & his sones presoneng. 416

and oom« to thanne Gomen Alle to the q weene Anon,

•toaM to Sanv

ejrnM and Griden hire Mercy Everichon,

that hire Brother £n-prIsoned so was
their oonMnt to be here Gonsentyn In that plas ; 420

CaUr«r»'a ooobmI

to iropriMa And seydeu ' p\t it was Only Al & som,
Only be Galaferis ymaginacioun ;
Wherfor, God hath veniaunce on him take
Openly, As we knowe?!, for Nasciens sake.' 424

CH. XZV.] ME8SBKGSR8 ABE SENT TO SEEK FOR NASGIEN8. 321

and for they Syen that God Of his Myht

hadde schewed swich miracle to AUe Mennes siht,

there-fore Mercy they gonne to Crye Th« Baron* erj

To qwene Saracynte ful lowlye : 428 enwity ioNm-

" Now, goode lady, joure brother don seken je, "■

In what Contre that So Evere he be,

And we scholen putten vs In his Mercy —

bothe Owre bodyes, & Owre Good pleynly, — 432 and offer to mak«

"^ * r J J» atonement for it.

With V8 to done At his plesannce,

To what presown, or to what Noisaunce."

and whanne qwene Saracinte herde hem thus seye, sarraqynte
Wei gladed hire herte was Certeinlye. 436

Anon sent sche Messangens fyve, wnd* flv« Maa*

And Charged hem Alle vppon here lyve,
And took hem I-nowh of gold & Fee,

& Charged hem to Serchett In Eche Contre, 440 forharbrothar

Al 80 longe As Good & hors wolde Endure,
To sechen hire Brothir sche made hem Ensure ;
And for non man Schold han hem In Suspescioun,
lettres Enseled with Good Entencioun, 444 with lattan

Enseled vndir hire Owne Sel,
the bettere men hem to knowen & leven wel ;
And In that lettre dide sche don wryte
As wel as that sche Cowde Endyte, 448

Of hire lordis Avicion Certefyenge, deaeriung Mor-

pat he hadde the Kiht to-foren his goynge. (p. 2»-sn).

thus the Messengeris here leve took,
that lome to done, & it not forsook ; 452

Forto fulfillen hire Comaundement,
Alle forth they wenten with good entent.

Now Mosten we leven A while this storye.
And to Anothir Storye We Mosten hye, 456 Tha story tarna

to Naadana'a

Whiche that Certefieth Of Nasciens Wif, wia.

That leveth In Wo, bothe Sorwe & stryf.

6RAAL. 21

323

OF NASOIENS a WIFE, FLBGENTYNB.

[CH. XXVI.

CHAPTER XXVL

Of Nasciens's wife, Flegentyne. How beautiful and good she
is (p. 322), and how Bbe loves her husband. She is
dispossenst of her lands (p. 823), and takes refuge with
an old trusty knight, Carsopinea, to whom she has been
kind. He puts his goods and life at her disposal ;
but she sorrows for htT lord and her son. Queen Sar-
racynte asks her to come to her, that they may comfort
one another (p. 324) ; but slie refuses, so Sarracynte goes
to fetch her. When tlicy meet, their grief bursts out
afresh (p. 325) ; but tSarmcynte recovers first, and en-
treats Flegentyne to return with her. (p. 326). Flegen-
tyne again refuses, saying she must stop with her old
knight Slie still sorrows (p. 326), till she hears that
her lord, Nasciens, and her son, have escapt out of prison
(p. 327). She dreams that a voice says they are in the
West ; and a2«ks a provost of the church what her dream
means (p. 328) ; then she asks the old knight (p. 329) ;
and he advises that they set out, with his son Helycaora
as their yeoman, to seek Nasciens and his son (p. 330).
Flegentyne agrees (p. 831) ; the knight gets money, &o. ;
and the three start (p. 332), with four horses, towards
Sarras, journeying westwards (p. 333) : they come to the
river Arccuse, lodge near the Castle of Emelianz (p. 334),
and enter Calamyne (p. 335).'

Thus this Storie forthere gynneth precede,

that whanno Kasciens to preson gon they lede,

and his sone thero-Inne with him I-do,

Whiche was to him bothe peyne & wo, 4

And al his lond I-sesid it was tho ;

and his wif Owt put Of Euerj plas also,

that an hy born wom»?an was, & of good lyvenge,

and therto here fadir was a kynge. 8

this lady was So ful Of bewte.
For a fairere wora^Tian Myhte now man ee,
for thus Of hire telle th the Story e,
womim that ever that more bcwte haddo Bche Sekerlye 12

thanne Alle the wommen Erthly bom
that Evere Ony Man Sawh leveng beforn ;

* In the Additional MS. 10292, this chapter— or rather, the
illustration at the head of it — is headed " £nsi que .j. cheualier
amaine j enfnnt a la duchoise le femme nascien ; " and Hely-
caors is represented as a smull boy.

NMciens'i wlft
lathe

most beautiful

en. XXVI.] THE SORROW OF FLEGENTTNB, NAA0TEN8*S WIFE.

323

And to these bewtes ache hadde bownte,
Cortejs and gentil In Alle Maner degre ;
lowlich to Every Creature,
and large to God, I the Ensure ;
and Ajens hire lord & Soverein
debonewre & ful trewe Certein,
and Chaste Evere In his Absence,
bothe humble & Mek In his p'6sence ;
therto sche him louede aboven al erthly thyng ;
Non wondir thowh this lady made Morneng ;
For so gret sorwe & momeng sche Made,
that non Man ne Myhte hire herte glade.

thus was the Condisciown Of this lady fre,
as ^e han herde Hehersed here be me ;
and this ladyes Name was Flegentyne,
A ful worthy lady, and A benyngne.
Wetes wel, whanne sche hadde knowenge y*
that hire lord was In presown I-do,
Ful gret sorwe sche took to herte.
And Manie peynes sche hadde, & smerte.

and In the moste Sorwe that sche was In/ie,
This false Calafer ne wolde not blynne,
but putten hire Owt Of alle hire londis,
and be-Eefte Clone Ow[t] of hire hondis.

thanne was this lady At Orbery tho,
In fill mocbel deseisse sche was do ;
and thedir here lome tho sche Mad,
Weneng hire lord Owt Of prison han bad ;
but Euere Calaferis Conseyl was presente,
and for nothing thereto wolde asseute,
As this Storie here After doth telle
Al to-gederes how it be-felle.

and whanne pis goode lady say it was so.
That* husbonde Child & lond was argo,
thanne was sche In passinge Momyng
Whanne sche herde tellen Al this tydyng ;

16 She U ttietn&wm,
lowly.

20 tnie, and duttto.

24 She moorna for
NMcitna.

28

Her name !•
Fle|{eiityne.

32

36 CalaferitorM
her out of all
her landa.

40

and prerenta her
getting Naeciena
out of priaon.

44

48 [I MS Than]

324 8ARRACTNTE ASKS FLEQENTTNE TO COMB TO HEB. [CH. XXVI.

FlegwityiM
eoDdults an old
TAvaaour (uiidei^
vassal) CaraopinM
(p. SS2, 1. S&3},

whom ihe tnuU
moch.

He pats himself
and his goods at
her senrloe.

Qneen Sarniqmte
prays Flegentjne

DeaftT]
to come and sor-
row with her.

Thanne wiste sche neuere what foito do ;

but to An hygb good levere sche drowh hers ynto, 52

An old vauasour, A fiil gentil knyht

that Inne sche trosted with AUe hire Myht,

For norre he was to hire sone so dere,^

that him tauht bothe norture & Manere, 56

and sche hadde him Encresed Also,

From poverte In to worschepe I-do

And him joven to-fom that Owr

Manie lowelis of gret honoure ; 60

Wherforo In him gan sche hire Affye

Aboven Alle Other tho Sekerlye.

thanne flcgentyne to thys vauasour wente,

A sorwcful womman, and ful dolente. 64

and whanne this vauasour gan hire Aspie,
that it was his lady Certeinlye,
Anon with herte, body, & thowht,
he thanked God ^at thedir hire browht, 68

And Resceyved hire ful worthily,
As his lady & soverein ful debonerly,
With herte, Body, & Al his good tho.
At hire Comandcment to ben I-do. 72

but Evere this lady hadde In herte
hire lorde, hire sone, that dide here smerte,
Wlieche sche lovede Ouer Alle thing.
So that to hire myhte Comen non Comforteng. 76

Thanne the qweene Sarracynte, hire soster dere,
To flegentyne sente In this Manere,
and preide here, ' for Alle Gentelnesse,
For sosterhed, & for Alle kendeuesse, * 80

and In slakyng Of hire peyne & wo,
that sche wolde Comen hire vnto,
that Ech of hem Other myhte Comforte,
and Ech In here Angwisch to Other Hesorte.' 84

* et chil auoit este tous lours mBistres a son fil. — A
p. 332, 1. 336.

See

CH. XXVI.J QUEEN SARRACYNTE VISITS FLEGENTYNE.

325

thanne Flegentyne thanked here of hire message,
as womman that was of high parage,
and hire preide ^fat sche sholde not with hire mysplese,
For to here it ne were nethir Comfort ne Ese ; 88

Sethen J)at with hire lord sche hadde loye & honour,
It is worthi be hire selves to sufTre peyne & dolour ;
For I ne Am not to good therto,
For my lord to suflfren bojj* sorwe & wo ; * 92

and In this Manere sche sente to Say
To qwene Saracynte this ilke day.

and whanne the qwene herde of this tydynge,
that Flegentyne wold Comew for non thinge, 96

Sche wente hire Self, In hire pey-sone,
that lady to bringen Owt of hire Mone,
So that this Sarracynte wente forto seke
this duchesse Flegentyne that was so meke. 100

and whanne to-Gederis Metten these ladyes trewe,
thanne gan Alle here sorwes Eenewo ;
to Grownde bothe In Swowneng fille,
that non Of hem Myhte speken Other vntille ; 104
For so gret sorewe they Maden bothe,
that to f* peple Abowtes it was ful lothe ;
For Grettere Sorwe Sawgh neuere Manne
than^ be-twene the two ladyes was thanrie ; 108

Ful mochel was the Cry & the weping,
that be-twane hem two was, & y Momeng ;
And longe it was £r they myhten Speke,
Ojjer Ony word Eifer myhte Owt-Breke. 112

jit Atte laste this qweene Sarracynte
Of hire Momeng Som what gan to stynto,
And, Ab a wis womman and a Eedy,
To this dwchesse sche spak ful gentelly, 116

And hire sche peyned In Alle thing
To Restreynen hire from weping,
And spak ful goodly to this dwchesse,
hire to bringen Owt Of hire distresse ; 120

Fleg^n^e
thanks Sarra-
cynte,

bat declines to
come to her.

So Queen Sarra-
cynte goes to
Flegentyne.

Both ladies
swoon.

[1 MS that]
ciyi and mourn.

Tlien the Queen
comforts Fle-
gentyne*

Sameynte ■ftala
bflga Flagttntyne
to go honM witii

124

128

lmtslM<

iMTMlf,

aodnjadMll
■tay with
Canapiumi

132

136

326 PLBGENTYNB BBSOLVCB TO STAY WITH SJB& VAVA80UB. [CH. XXVI.

and In the Ende scbe preide hire So
that 8che wold with hire Go,
'' And 8wich Comfort I wolde )ow ma^e.
For my dere brothir ^ouxe lordis sake
that we ben so mochel bownden to ;
)if pny Comfort to jow Cowde I do."

but this duchesse, this lady froi
Kolde therto Assente In non degre»
and Excused here f ul ladyly,
" that In non Othir felischipe tiewly
thanne In that yauasour, that Olde knybti
ache nolde not Comen be day ne be nyht;
and Ek to hire were it worschepe non
From that yauasour forto goon.
For my Compenye he Nele forsake,
Ne I ne may his, Anothir to take ;
For In his Compenye have I be
Sethen myn Exil was put to Me,
and In his Compenie I wele Abide
Tyl to my ducherie A^en I Come som tyde.
For, goode lady, moche lasse deseisse Suffice I here,
thanne In 30wre Compenye jif I were,
For nether Of ys Other Myhte sa
But Owre sorwe Ajen renewed scholde be,
Ne nethir Of ys Of Ouie lordis to speke,
the Sorwe wolde maken Owr« hertes breke ;
to heren Ony thing Of here deseisse,
In Alle thinges it scholde ys Misplese ;
and therfore, Myn Owne lady & Soster so dere,
haueth me Excused In this Manere,"

Ful Mochel hevynesse & sorwe made this qweenne
Whanne that sche Sawh it wold not bene, 152

and that the yauasour sche nolde forsake,
Ful mochel sorewe sche gan to Make,
and that sche nolde for non preyere
With hire forth gon In non Manere. 156

140

wtra the with
Sarraojnt*

the torrowef both
of them would
brMktbairbnrtt.

144

143

en. xxvl] flegent'yne hears of nasciens's escape. 327

And whanne non Other wise thanne Myhte it go, Qa««ii sanaeTnft

homwardes a3en thanne tonied sche tho ;

and to hire Self sche Made gret Mone

that y duchesse no?i Otherwise wolde done. 160

And Every day thus ferde this qweene,
that sorwen & Weping made bedene ;
and thus ferde sche ful Manye A day,
that Man ne womman hire Comforten may ; 164

And Evere beleft this duchesse stille Fieg«ityn«

remain! with

Vfith the vauasour, As it was hire wille, cwsopinei.

And Evere hire Sorwe was lich newe ^

So good sche was, & Of love so trewe, 168

that Neuere man ne non wo7nman

In that digre myhte ComiovUsn hire than,

til that it fyl vppon A day Then the heue tff

.^ , , 1 M 1 ' r^ i^vrk Nftsdeni's esctpe,

that tydynges to hire Come» verray, 172

that Nasciens, hire lord So fre,

Owt of prisoun was skaped Certeinlie.

and whanne Of this tydinges herde sche telle,
Somme Comfort In hire herte befeUe, 176

and better Semblaunce sche gan to Make,
that hire lord Owt of preson was take ;
And aho that hire Sone so dere «nd CeUdoyne's

too.

Was Asckaped In that Manere. 180

So it be-fyl that the seventhe Nyht on the 7th night

After that Nasciens owt of presown was dyht.

And as In hire bed that Niht sche lay, —

and hadde not slept ful mani A day, 184

What For gret Mone & for Weping, —

at the last sche fyl In A slombering,

So, what for weping & werynesse,

hire herte hadde longe ben In distresse. 188

And as sche lay In hire Slombering,
Sche thowghte sche hadde A Merveillous Metyng ;^ ehe dreams

' Ensi com el« BoumiUoit si li anint vne auisioDs. — A.

328

FLBGKNTYNB B££8 NASCIENS IN A DREAM. [cH. XXVI.

thatiha
VmcImis befbri
har.

Ulllng htr that

he is in a Ikr
eoontiy to the
wwt.

N«xtmondng

■be goMto dmnha

and then beg*
a dean (?) to

pray Gkidto
teU her the
meaning of her
Tlaion.

Sche thouhte ache Say In hize Avisiown

Kasciens hire loid, botbe hcd & sowiii 193

stonding to fore hire bed there,

that to hire Seide In this Maneie :

" Swete soster, sixt thow not Me

that thus here stonde to fore the 1 196

Into a fer Contre I am I-browht,

thorw him that vs alle hath bowht^

Into a place fer be weste,

there that goode lord liketh beste ; 200

wheche plase & weche Contre

he hath me Ordeyned In forto be,

and there my seed forth forto bringe,

hym to worschepe & honourenge." 204

and On the Morwen whanne sche Awook,
Gret merveil Of this Avisioun sche Took ;
and In as moche As sche hadde non ful knoweng
Of that Avisions Signefieng, 208

the firste werke sche dide tho,
To holi chirche sche gan to go,
there forto heren Goddis Servise,
As Everi day it was hire Gyse. 212

And whanne Alle the Servise was I-do,
Anon to A provost sche gan to Gro,
And told him Of hire A-visiown,
how fat it was, Al & sown,^ 216

And preide that provost, for Charite,
For hire to preyen to the Trenite,
* that he wolde senden hire som Tokeneng
Of that Avisiouns Signefieng.' 220

And thus sone sche tomed Ageyn
To [the] vauasours hows In Certein,
that hire Comforteth As he Can,
For to hire he was A ful trewe man. 224

* For ' al k som ; * see 1. 39^.

CH. XXVI.] FLEGENTTNE RESOLVES TO SEEK NASCIEN8.

329

thanne this ladi this yauasour In Cownseil Gan to Fieffentyne teu«

^. ,. CanopinM her

Calle,

▼iiloa.

and him tolde how that hire it gan be-falle

In hire Avisiown this Othir Niht ;

Al him sche tolde Euene Owtriht. 228

thanne Answered this vauasour to hir« Ageyn,

" that theke Avisiown in Certein —

be the helpe of God and the holy Eoode —

Scholde here tome to worschepe & goode ; 232

Neuertheles, lady, vndirstonde je Me,

that I wele ben Eedy in Eche degre

to fulfillen joure Comaundement

In alle degrees, And joure Entent." 236

and whanne the lady herde of his benyngnete,
In Alle things that so profred he,
For loye In herte sche gan to wepe,
that of hire he took so gret kepe ; 240

thanne Answerid sche, " with herte & wiUe,
And myn preceptis thow wilt fulfiUe,
the behoveth with me forto^ go
Into what plase that I preie 30W to." 244

thanne Answerid this vauasowr Ageyn
to that worschepful duchesse : '' Certein,
^e ne Connen not Seyn, ne Comaunden me,
that I nel fuliille In eche degre 248

Evere As ^owre Owne pore Bedeman."
And thus to hire the vauasour Seide than,
'' And what Gompenye that sche wele have,
I schal 30 w gete to bringen 30 w Save." 252

thanne Answered the lady tho,
** that Gompenye wele I no mo
but Only ^oure Owne Sengle persone ;
We tweyne to gederis to gon Alone ; 256

For I wolde kepen it So prevyle
That non lyveng man wiste but I & ^e."

' MS forto to

•nd uk> him

to go with her
whither the wilL

HepromlMsio
do to.

She wiihet to
tain no one elie.

330 CABSOPINBS WANTS HIB 80K AS THKIB TBOMAN. [oH. XXVI.

Thanne Answerid this vauasowr :

•n^yiM to takB '' iAdy, I desire ^owre Grete honour ; 260

I wele 30W telle now my Cownsaille,
^if Owht to jowre wit it May Avaylle^

hitdtaiMm Myn Eldest Sone with vs schal go,

with totm M

tbdryMinMi. jif je thinken best that it be so, 264

and stonden vs In jomannes Ser^e,
In what degre that ^e welen him devise.
And wete 30 wel, that In Certeyne
he wolde Sufifren As moche peyne 268

As Ony man here myhte Endure,
jow to plese, I jow Ensure ;
but^ lady, take je this speche in non swich degre.
In Ony thing that I scholde wrath then the, 272

but that I wele ben Kedy bothe Nyht & day
To don thing that 30W plesen May,
And for jow to sufTren peynes & Owtrage
As Ony man May don Of My Age. 276

8h« ought to But, worschepf ul lady, vndirstonde 30 me,
that it Fallet nouht for jowre degre,
With-Owten A servauwt forto gone
Into Ony plase, 30 & I Alone. 280

and 3if with-Owten Servaunt pat we go,
And Ony mysaventure Come 30W to,
Goode lady, how scholde I jowe be-welde,

Mhe,CuMpiiiei. that Am an Old man, Sc smeten Into Eldet 284

bold, ^

and whani?e we Comon Into Ony straunge Contre,
and Ony mys- A venture befalle to Me,
and hu Km eta thanne my Sone May don vs bothe Ese,

lady, bothen 30W & Me to plese. 288

and how so it stonde In Ony Other degre,

3oure Man & Servaunt I wil ben sekerle ;

And my sone schal ben Owre Servaunt,

lady, 3if 30ure herte Mo we perio grawnt ; 292

and I as non knyht ne wil not be,

but as 30ur6 Servaunt In Eche degre ;

y
^

CB. ZXVl] FLEGENTTNB AQBEE8, AND WANTS TO START AT ONCE. 331

For what deseisse that I Safifre may,

for 30W I wele doa Every day. 296

Kow that je han herd myn Entent,

Of }ow now wolde I weten present

how that 30 thinken be this CownsaiUe,

jif it Ony thing to 30W may Availle ; 300

for, lady, ful fain weten I wolde,

jif that to this Cownseil je wolden holde."

thanne Consented that lady ful wel noitntyne agrees

to take Cano-

To this knyhtes Cownsail EverideL 304 pines'i son.

Thanne bespak this^ lady Anon,
" Sire knyht, I wold that we weren gon ; She bege him to

■tart at once to

For In loye schal I neu^e ben Sekerlye MekNaaeiaua,

tyl that my lord I se with bodily Eye, 308

therfore this viage now wele I go,

jif God his wille with me wile do ;

but I ne wolde for non worldly good

that Non Creature it yndirstood, 312

but Onliche thi self, thi sone, and I,

Of this purposeng now trewely."

" lady," Seide this vaoasour thanne,

*' that ther nys leveng non Erthly Manne 316

that more gladly this viage wil vndirtake

thauTze I wele, for my lordis Sake ;

and this Cownseil to 30W I wolde han seid be-fore,

but that Of on thing me dredde fill sore, 320

that me 30 wolde not haven In Compenye,

And this I dredde ful Sekerlye."

thanne preide Anon this lady so fre, «nd provide

money for tbeir

'that Anon Eedy he wold be, 324 joomey.

And him Silver & Gold to Ordeyne,
And what sche myhte sche wolde hire peyne,
For bothen pore & Naked was sche Mad ;
that Of Al hire good but Utel sche had.* 328

Keuerthelea this Olde gentyl knyht,
To his power dide Al his Miht,

> MS this this

332

FLEGENTTNB STARTS TO SEEK NASCIEN8. [CH. XXTL

Canoplnw g«tt
money aiul
J«wela,

■nd toOt hb wrth
that FlflgmtjiM
ii going to nt
flArracjnU.

ll«g«ntyM,
OanopUiM, tnd
ab ■on HiljoMn

•tart on their
Jooraey,

[leafXS]

and purveiod him Of Gold Sc Of tresowr,
and of Mani A lewel of gret valowr ;
For At that tyme more hadde he
Thanne Xasciens and flegentyne Certeinle.
Of this the vauasowr dide Moche thing,
be Encheson Of hire sones Norscheng.^

And On the Morwe whanne it gan dawe,
this goode lady was f ul fawe ;
anon to Chirche sche gan to Oon,
As hire Olde Custom was to don ;
And whiles that sche At Chirche was,
this vauasour to his wif told the Cas, —
how that his lady wolde go
to visite qweene sarracynte tho, —
So that here Sadelys he did Owt take,
and here hors Eedy forto make ;
and as sone as sche from Chirche gan gon,
to here hors they wenten Anon,
bothe the lady and the vauasour,
And Ek his sone In that stowr —
hos Name was Clepyd helycaors,'
A semly pcrsone Of Membris & Cors ; —
and his Fadir Carsopines hyhte ;
An Awnciel Man, and A vfiiliaunt knyhte.

Thus this lady took leve tho
At the vauasours wif, & forth gan go ;
So dide hire howsbonde & hire sone In fere,
and wenten forth with Meri Chere ;
But this vauasour wolde not In non wise
to his wif discoueren liis Servise,
and that he Scholde non ferthere Go
but to Sarras, to the qweene tho.

332

336

340

344

348

352

356

360

* Car naaoiens et la douchoise I'auoitot moult enrichi, pour
ramour de lor fil ke il nourriflsoit. — A.

* St Bes flex li aisneti, qui estoit apieles hel icons, che dist 11
oontes. Et ses peres auoit nom corsapias. — A.

CH. XXVI.] AFTER A FALSE START, SHE JOURNEYS WESTWARD. 333

For Flegentyne hire wolde Se,

What Maner of Comfort with hire myht be ; 364

For non Othirwise ne dorste he do,

For his lady Comaunded him so.

thus sone iiij hors weren browght forth there,

And Anon they thre weren horsid In fere, 368

and the fourthe hors the Somer bar,^

the weche wherto was Ordeined thar,

that was Charched with diuers Mone,

With hem to have In Eche Contre. 372

And whanne Owt Of that town they paste,
Streiht to Sarras they tomed Atte laste ; —
and thus dide the vauasour tho.

For they scholden Sen hem toward sarras go ; — 376
and that weye helden they ful Eyht
til they weren A Mile Owt of f* peples Siht.
thanne bespak this vauasowr tho,
and seide, " lady, how wele ^e now go 380

For to Seken My lord & ^oure,
Whiche that is Man Of honoure ;
For I suppose In Min Mynde,

je ne weten in what Contre him to f3mde ; 384

and Sethen that ^e knowen non Certeinto
In what Contre that he Scholde be,
So Mosten we Seken be Aventuit)
In what Contre to fyndcn him Sure." 388

" For sothe," quod the lady Ageyn,

" I n' wot nenere Into what Cuntre Certein

Sikerly him forto fynde —

My worthy lord So Goode & kynde ; — 392

but In As Moche As that he tolde Me

' that westward Algates Scholde he be,*

(thus thowhte me In Myn Avisiown

that he Seide Al & Som ;) 396

' et li quars fu vns soumieSi qui tous estoit cargies de
deniera mounees, et d'or et d'argent en plate, et de vaiasele-
mente moult riclie et moult biele. — A.

wlth4honat,
th«ith bMuing
th«tr lofgaipi.

TImj lint take
Um Sams road.

■nd thm Cnrvo-
piiiMMka whither
they sbftU turn.

Westward, s^
Flegentyne.

334

FLBOENTTNS REACHES BMBLTAK2 0A6TL1L [OB. ZZVI.

Bothejtom

aoderoatte
rtT«r AracttM^

thatroni towarAi
OrbtiT.

At nif ht tiMj
•topttahooM
next Um CmU*
of BiDcUaoi,

and In the
morning Joiim«j

(on aecoant of

tlM SutUWDt)

Wherfore weatward, I telle it the,

My herte falleth Most he Scholde be."

thanne torned they Aweye On y Byht bond.

And thua sone a water there they fond ;

Anon ful sone that water they paste.

That toward Orbery Ran In gret haste,

Whiche water * Arecuse ' was Cleped tho,

that to Orbery wardis wente tho.

So longe they Eeden til it was Eve,

For the sonne hire lyht began to leve,

thanne was sche At hire owne londis Ende,

thike gentil lady so good Ss hende.

And there here In they token Anon,^

In a Rial plase of lym & of ston

that next the Castel of Emelianz stood,

that marched ' next to ])* d wchie On fai flood.

And On the Morewe ful Erly sche Ros,
And In hire weye forth sche gos.
For that Aparceyved sche ne wolde not be,
for sche was there at 8wich poverte ;
and sche dide it be good Resoun,
•For Al that Contre there In-virown,
they werew Saradynes Everichon,
and hatede alle GrLstene be On & On ;
and Ek hem Of Orberi & Of Sarras
these Saradines hatede In Every plas.

400

404

408

412

416

420

' Si prisent ostel de mult haut euro. — ^A.

' borderd : * qui marchisoit a la duchee qui estoit apieles
emelians/ — A.

*— ' Car cbil de chel chastiel, et de tout le pais enuiron,
estoient sarrasin; si haoient chiaus de sarras et d'orberike
pour ohou qu'il s^estoient crestiene. Et quant il orent chel
chastiel eslongie remire de .v. lieues, Si entrerent es vaus de
calamin'e, en vne terre qui mult est plentieueuM de nart et de
cjmamome et de basme. Tant esrerent ke il vinrent au tierch
lour a vne chite mult riohe, qui auoit non * lussane.* Si estoit
maistres sieges del roiaume le roi de meocide. — A. The names
are < luisance * and < meotide * in Addit MS 10,292, leaf 29,
ool. 3.

CH. XXVII.] OF KAS0IEN8 ON THE YL TORNEAWNT, 335

thanne past tliej forth owt of that contre tho,
And Into Calamyne they gonne to go.' 424 to catamyiw.

Now Of this dwchesse here leveth this stone : Thewwei«Te

ber

And to the Messageres we Mosten hye,

that Sire Nasciens Sowghten Every where,

In Eche Contre, both fer & Nere ; 428

^but fill longe it is, I vndirstonde,

Er that these Messengeres Sire Nasciens fonde ;

And how Nasciens fond his aonge sone ■«* t«™ *»

^ her hiuband

that with him in presown was done ; 432 NaMtou«.

wherfore, of Al Erthly thing,

For his wif <& him was his Momeng.^

CHAPTER XXVn.

Of Nasciens on the '* Yl TameamU" How the hand bore
Kasoiena to a TumiDg Island, the name and nature of
which it is the duty of the History to expound (p. 337).

[The exposition accordingly in the French MS. only.
At the beginning of all things, when Gk)d sepamted the
four elements, he set the heavens above the earth and sea
as a covering (p. 337), as they were contrary to one an-
other, the heavens being hot and light, the earth cold
and heavy. And because the foul earth toucht heaven and
dirtid it, Qod divided them, making the heavens clear and
warm, and the earth cold and heavy. The dross of the
elements, the rust of the earth, and the sediment of the sea,
could not mix with earth and water, nor with the heavens,
for they were foul, and the heavens pure (p. 338) ; and the
flame from heaven could not return to it, as being cor-
rupted. (So little from the air was in the mass, that it
need not be noticd.) Therefore, as the mass could not go
to any ous of its element-sources, fire or heaven, earth or
water, it stopt in two, earth and water. For God willd it
should be in the sea ; and because one part was from
heaven, it swam lightly (p. 339), and floated into the
Western Sea, between Ovagrive [MS. au a griv^l and Ti-
ger*s Harbour, where was great store of Adamant or Load-

*— * Et ne-pourquant anchois ke il die des messages, contera
11 ooument nasciens vint el lieu ou li message le trouerent, et
comment il trouuerent oelidone son fil, ke il auoit laissiet en la
maison calafler ; dont ses cuers estoit plus a malaise ke de nule
riens viuant

336 OP NA8CIENS ON THE YL TORNEAWKT, [CH. ZZVII.

■tone, which Iotob iron aboye all things, and will not leaye
it when it onoe gets hold of it, unless it is obligd to. So,
when this mass of shakings came to the place of the
Adamant, it stopt And its heavenly heat made the whole
mass light, and the mass remaind in the sea, and was oalld
an island. But no herb or tree or beast or bird was on it
Also the isle tumd every time that the firmament or
heaven tumd ; and this is why it was calld Tl Tomeawnt
(p. 340).]

How, when Nasciens awakes from his swoon, he is
much abasht, but still stedfast in his belief, like Job (p.
841). How he bears all his troubles as patiently as Job,
and thanks God (p. 842). How the Turning Isle is
barren and very hot, and Nasciens is weary and bruisd,
and so lies do¥m to sleep, making the sign of the cross
(p. 843). He sees in a vision white birds (p. 843), and
two come to him, and tell him to fly. He perceivs that
he has wings. The birds come again, and ask him
for his heart to eat He givs it them, and they rejoice
(p. 344), and speak to him. On awaking, he feels the
isle trembling, and hears a marvellous battle in the sea
(p. 345) ; the Adamant and the Firmament trying which
will turn the isle, and the Firmament winning (p. 346).
One end of the isle turns down, and the other up,
\ ' though it is eighty miles round and fifty-seven long
(p. 347) ; which is no lie, for this Holy Story was written
by Christ with his own hand (p. 848) ; and He never
wrote anything else but the Law for Moses, and the
Judgment on the Adulterous Woman (p. 848) ; which
latter is explaind (p. 348-9). Then " what clerk is there
so hardye that dar sein . . openlye that God sethen his
uprysinge . . made ony wrytynge sauf . . this blessid stdrye
of Seint Graal?" If any allege the contrary, ''they
lycn ful pleyn" (p. 350).

]^ow this Stoiye ginneih forth to telle.
Of KascienB how that tho befelle,
that how the hond^ him hadde I-bore
thens As Calafer was forlore. 4

The hand bor» thanne the hond Sire Nasciens Bar

Kaflcienstoan r^ y

Isle iu tiM Wmi Into A ful straunge Contre thar ;

Whiche Contre was A Merveillous plas ;

For An yl In the west Se it was, 8

' A cloud, in the French : < Ore dist li oontes chi Sndroit,
ke quant la nue en eut porte nascien iusc^a la v oalafier Teut
aconsieui— ensi com uous l*aues oi deuiser cha aniere el conte, —
Et que calafier fu cheus pasmes pour la paour de la nue ver-
melle, et ke li cors qui dedens la nue estoit eut calafier signie
cs .y. ioues del seing mortel, Apres che enporta la nue &c.*— A.

Sea.

CH. XXVII.] HISTORY OP THE Yh TOHSEAWNT, OR * TURNING I8LK. 337

that xiij lomes it was of lengthe'

tbens As Xasciens was In y presown of strengthe.

that yl was Of sweche a fame,

For * yl Tomeawnt * was the name ; 12

For be Ryht Resown it is So,

for Ofer whiles it Tometh bothe to & fro ;

but In As moche as that the Cause why

Of his Tomeng nis not knowen verayly — 16

Of AUe tho fat there of don speken, Other Rede,

they ne knowen it not In word ne In dede, —

thcrfore Resoun & sckele it were

that this Storye Rehersed [it] here ; 20

for, Of £che thing that is Of dowte,

be it Reherseth Er he passe Owte,

and bringeth it to Clere vndirstondyng

to Every Mannes wit, bothe Old & Jong, 24

As )e Scholen here In tyme Comcng

bow this storie declareth Every thing.

'Orre repaire la parole, et raconte la droits maniere
del isle ou nascieus fu portes, ke li paisant, si com ie
Yous ai dit, apielent ' Tisle toumoiant' II est ucrites
prouuee, ke au commenchement de toutes choses, quant
li establissieres del monde deuisa et departi .iiij.
elemens, qui deuant estoient tout en .j. monchelement,
et en vne masse; et il ot le chiel, qi/i li escripture
claime le fu, deseure des autres trois^ qui de toutes
dartes est plains, et de toutes netetes; il I'establi el
plus haut lieu, Car il en fist couuerture a tons les
autres, et closture. Et pour chou ke 11 chieus, et li
airs, et la terre, et Tiaue, auoient este en vne masse, Ja
fust chou ke li vns fust contraires a Tautre, si ne pooit
mie estre ke li vns ne fust enuolepes de rautre, et en-
loes des diuerses manieres qui en chascun lieu estoient

* qui estoit bien .xiij. ioumees loins del lieu ou naaoiens
auoit este en priBon. — A.

* MS XIV E iii, leaf 45, ool. 2, middle.

QRAAL. £2

The UI« it 17
dajs' Journey
from CaUfere's
prison,

and i« ealld
•YlTornenwnt*
btcauM it tunia
npilde down.

TheetUMortha
taming shall ba
told at onoe.
IBui Tkt
BHolitkerqftks
Storg l0ave$ it
omt.2

The hlatory of
tha riTome-
awMt,

At tha baglnning
of all things,
whan Qod separ-
ated the 4
elements,

he set the heavena

above the earth
and sea

as a covering.

as thcj were

oontrury

to one another.

338 HISTORT OF THB YL TORSKAirNT, OR * TURXINO ISLE.' [cH. XXVIh

and the tarth
oold and iMavy.

tb« heaTeiM bdof Car 11 chieus estoit par nature cans ^ legiers : et la

hot and li«ht, . « '

terre eetoit par nature froide et pesans. £t par che
puet chascuns counoistre, ke en aucune maniere se
aentoit li chieus de la froidour de la t^rre, et de Tiaue
autresi. Et chil doi s'entrcsentoieut en aucune guise
de la grant calour del chiel. £nsi poes entendre les
controrites des vns et des autres qui s'entrenuisoient, et
ne se pooient souifrir. £t de che qtte la terre qui
pesans^ est, et froide, et amassemens d'ordure^ touchoit
au chiel qui est legiers, et cans, et fontaine de toutes
netetes ; de che auint qiie il en quelli onlure. Si commQ
amassement de t^rriene ferrume et de la rieule^ de
Tiaue autresi. Et quant li souuerains peres, qui est
fontaine de toute sapiense, eut Tun departi de I'autre^
et desioint, si mist le chiel en sa droite hounour, et
amena en sa droite^ honour, et amena en sa droite pure
nete[t]e; Car il le fist cler, et luisant, et legier, de
toutes calours plain ; Et la terre laissa froide, et pesa»t,
et en fist amassement de toutes choses pesans. Et
qf/ant il eut le chiel netie et monde de la terriene fer-
rume, e/ de la rieule de I'iaue ; et il ot escousse la terre,
et leue de Tarsin du cliiel ; Chele ferrume terriene et
chele rieule euage ne peurent mie naturelma^zt conioin-
dre a la terre, et a Tieue, dont cles estoient issues. Ke
chele celestiene ardure, et chil rieulemens qui de la
terre et de Tiaue furent escous, ne peussent mie honeste-
ment repairier a si haute chose, et a si nete, com est li
chieus; Car il auoient aucune take co^ncuellie do la
terre et de Tiaue, qui sont amassement de toutes ordures ;
Et li chieus, che sues \ou8 bien oi, est de toutes netetes

And
thefbul
•arth toQcht
haaTen

and dirtid it,
{htlng a VMM of
nutofaarth
andacomofMa)

God divided
them,

making the

heaTen

dear and wann.

and the earth
oold and hmrj.

Having pnrgd
the heavene of
their droea,

the met of the
earth and the
■edinient of
tlie eeaoould
not mix with
earth and water,
nor with Uie
hearena.

flbr they were
fool

and the heaveni
pure;

* MS pensans

' '* It is obvious that rlettle here must mean either ' scum *
or ' sediment* I have no doubt that it is the latter, from re^
gnluB^ l^T, regnle^ the ohemical term for * metals separated from
other substances by fusion.' — Worcester. 'The pure metal
which in the melting of ores falls to the bottom of the crucible.'
— Webster. Trevoux gives rieule as the Fr. form of the proper
name JUgulna,'' — Hensleiou Wedgwood. * MS droise

CH. XXVII.] HISTORY OF THB YL TORNEAWXT, OR 'TURNING I8LB.' 339

plainB. Et pour chou, par droite raison, ne deuolt iius
d'auB repairier la dont il estoit issus; Ne la te^Tiene
ferrume a la ierre ; ne la rieule euage a Tiaue j par
cliou ke aucune legieroto, et aucune calour^ auoient con-
cheue del chiel. Et pour chou ke Tarsins del cliiel ne «nd the flame

. ,., .. ,, ' 1 'J. . t ' from heaven

pcut au chiel repairier — comme chele qui estoit entecliie oooid not ntum

des.vilenies de la t^rre et de Fiaue, — p<9ur chou couuint

que ches .iij. choses repairaisscnt a une masse. Et m being

. ... corrupted.

pour cuou ke aucuns ne desist, 'ausi estoit li airs amon-
cheles com chil troi ; pour quoi n*on parole dont chis
contcs V 11 eel uoirs proues ke auoec dies trois escous- (^ nttie from

the air WHS in the

sures ot aucune chose de 1 air ; et a die s acorde hien maw,

li contes. Mais il dist, ke si petit en i eut, ke ia pour that it need not

chel mestier n'en deust estre parole tenue. Eiisi com

vous aues oi, ropaire?et les .iiij. parties a vne masse qui

des .iiij. elemens furent escousses. Et ix>ur chou qite Tiicrefore, aa

thla maMf

cliele masse ne puet naturelment 'repairier a nul de

ches .iiij. elemens, par le raison ke li contes en a aiiakenoutor

the four elemeiita,

deuisee, si conuint ke ele fust en coiitenchon. Et si fu

ele sans faille. Car, tant com il i auoit de fu, che est could not ro to

del chiel, fu ele legiere, et entendi a monter en haut ; eiement-aouroes

Et tant com il i auoit de la ierre, apesanti ; Et de tant eartiTor'vXr;

com ele se senti de Tiaue, si fa moiste et crollans, Et

pan puisa. Mais de Tair i eut si petit, ke ele n'en quelli

nule forche. Et pour chou ke toute la pensantume^

des .ii^. elemens est en la terre et en Tiaue, et ke chil

doi recuellent touted les pensantes^ coses, par che it atopt in two.

^ , , , . t earth and water.

remest ele a ches deus, en tel maniere com yoiia ores.

II fu verites prouuee ke par la uolente et par le plaisir For uod wiiid

It ahoiild be In

de chelui a qui toutes choses sont obcissans, chei chele theaea;
masse en la mer. Et pour chou ke ele traioit en vne
paHie a legierete, selonc che ke ele se sentoit du chiel, and becanae one
qui est tres legiers, pour chou uoa ele legierement, ne beavinttawaiu
n*eut pooir d'aler au fous.* Eu cheste maniere noa ele
grant pieche par la nior, ke onqoes en nule poi-tie ne
* leaf 45, back. ' So in MS.

340 HI8T0RT OF THE-FL TORyEAWNTy OR 'TURNING I8LE.' [cH. XXVII.

■nd flo«t«d Into peat prendre arestement, Tant ke ele yint en la mer

the Wcatorn Scft, ^, . ^ n* i •* i • t»

between oregriTe d occiuent, entro 1 isle ouagnue et le port as tigies, £n

f for ouofrHme^ vne partio de chele mer qui est entre chel isle et cbel

Harb<wr7 P^^» ^ grant plente d'aimant el fons^ auaL Et vous

rtorTorAdlnumt ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ arriere, ke li contes dist ke tant cam il ot

orLoMUuuM, ^^ ^^^^.j^ ^^ 2^ masse, Si estoit terrine^ ferrume. Et

wbieh cbele pierre qui a a non aymans, si est de tel nature,

«u things, ke ele aime fier sour toute riens, Et uoleutiers le trait a

and wtu not leare H. Et se li fiers li est prochains, et ele i puet sa forche
getahoidoru ioindre, il n'en est mie legiers a departir; anchois tire

le forche de la pierre tant le fier a li, ke ele le fait a li
ttnien It li touchier, Se grignour plente n'i a del fier ke de la pierre,

ou autre ostacle par quoi la forche de laymant soit
8o»whenthte vaincue. Qtiaut la masse dont ie vous ai parle vint

nuM of shAkingri

Mine to the place flotaut iusc'au lieu OU rajmans estoit, si s'arestut, Car

of the A dementi

It Btopt. la forche del ajrmant le retint, pour chou ke ele estoit

ferrouse, ensi com nous aues oi. Mais onqu^s la forche

And lu beeveniy del ajQiant ne sent tant tirer ke ele le peust a li faire

the whole mMe ioindre ; Non mie pour chou ke il i eust grignour plente

' '* de fier ke d*aimant, Mais tant com il i auoit de la cele&-

tiene calour, le tenoit plus legiere ; et si le faisoit par

andthemHB sa forcho teudre en haut. En cheste maniere remest

remalnd In the

eee, chele masse en chel lieu de mer, Et fu apielee puis par

endwMoeiidui les paisaus ''isle", pour chou ke toutes les masses de

lalend.

terre qui perent en mer, et es autres iaues, par ou ke
But no herb or che soit, sont apielees par chest non. Et pour chou

tree or beeit

or bird vu ke ele se senti en grant partie de la nature del chiel ;

pour che auint il ke onqu^ point n'i crut d'erbe, ne
arbres ne beste n*i porroit durer, ne oisiaus. Et auocc
Aieo the iiiie chesto maniere a ele encbore vne autre, ke ele tient en
that the Arm*- cbclo nature ke ele a du cliiel, ke toutes les fies ke li
OT*heaventamd. firmameus toume, et risle toume ausi tout cmn li
And this Is why firmamcns, che est li chieu^. En tel maniere toumoie

it was oalld Ti » r^ * . i • t

Tomeawnt. Tisle com VOUS aucs 01 : Or nous a li contes deuise la
raison pour quoi li paisant Tapielent ' Tisle toumoiant.'

» Fo in MS.

PH. XXVII.] NASCIKNS SUFFERS, BUT IS AS STEDFAST AS JOB. 341

Into this yl Siie I^asciens the hond bar,

& him In Swowneng be-left thar,

As man that hadde lost bothe wit & Memories

For * y wondirful sightes that he to fore sye ;

For he ne wiste Certeinlye

Where he was, ne in what partye.

Anon the hond thens departid thanne,
And ]N'asciens there lay as a ded Manne j ^
And whanne Of his Swowneng Jere Awook,
he lift vp his £yen, and Abowtes gan to look ;
it Nas non nede him to Eefreyne
Whethir he were Abascht Certeine,
but Evere his herte stedfast was
In his Creaunce, swich was his gras.
For Al the drede he hadde Suf&ed be-fore,
3it God him wolde Asayen wel more ;
For him weren Comeng Many tormensse,
jit wolde he neue?*e to his God Offensse,
Nether for loye nefer for ille,
but Euere In his Creawnce belefte StiUe,
And Evere In his torment stedfast was
As was lob In Every plas,
that In his lif hadde So moche Richesse,
So Moche welthe & worthynesse,
and jit suffred he witli herte & Minde, —
As A Man that was to God ful kynde, —
poverte, Misseise, and Ek distresse,
Angwich, temptacions, & Siknesse,
And in poverte vppon a dong hil lay ;
jit herde pere neuero Man Into this day
that neu6re with his Mowth he seide Amys,
Ne Grochched Ajens his Creatour I-wis.
And lik In the same Manere tho
Suffrede Xasciens bothe Angwisch & wo ;
"With goode wille & debonowre herte

* par les meruelles ke il suoit veues. — ^A.

The Hand bean
Nudeiu to the
28 Torninglale,

32

and then goes,

leaving him In a
dead evoon.

36 Hewakea,

and ie abashtt
bnt keepeflm
InUilwIK

40

44

48

62

56

60

and l> as eted-
fiwt as Job^ who

•itibrd wlUlnglj

porertyand
distreas.

and laj on a
donghiU.

342 KA8CIEXB THANKS QOD FOR 8BNDIN0 HIM TROUBLElf. [oH. XXVT1.

KMeteMtoflbfB, Suffmle he many Angwisches smerte,

but neT«r

grumun agyiMi and neuere to his God made he grocbchenge,

God.

Nethir for tormentis ne non Othir thinge. 64

And thus to him Self he gan to Speke,
And to him self his herte gan breke,
only Uunki H:m And seide, ** lord I thauket to the

for tbo trottbto K«

bM Mat. Of alle the deseisse thow sendest Me, 68

For moche more, worthy I am to have,
My Sowlo }if I Bcholde Ony wise save."

And whanne to this yl he was I-browht
he loked Abowtes him, & Say Ryht nowht 72

but the £ir, the yl, and the See ;
In ful gret Merveyl than/ie was he ;
for how that thodir he was I-gon,
In what Manere ne wiste he non ; 76

And Abowtes him he loked pure faste,

The Taming Isle & Al that yl was bareiu Sc ful waste,

la wuto,

and Ttry hot. End 80 stronge passeng hete there,

that he ne myht it Endure In non Manere. 80

thanne wiste he neuere In what partye

Of that yl how he myht this hete drie ;

but Euere hadde In Rcmembraunce

Of his thedir Comeng, & Of that ChauNce, 84

and of Celidoine his ^ongest sone

fat with him In preson was done,

Which that was mochel In his Mynde,

That Gentyl Child, that was so kynde. 88

Kudms'BumB For-broscd weren his honden & Armes to ;

are bnilsd,

and hit limbs his leggBs, his foot, wrowhten him moche wo ;
his Eeynes Oken, his Eibbes they gnowe.
So that Of tormentis he hadde I-nowe ; 92

To the Erthe Anon ho loide him thanne,
As A ful wcry and A-brosed Manne
that a passing lust hadde forto Slepe,
hof that to his Angwisch took kepe.

thanne down he him leide, As it is told.

acfaa.

OH. XXYII.] NASCIEKs'b VISIOM OF THB WHITE BIRDS. 343

In A partie Of the yl that was most Cold ;

For ful hot somer it was wit/i-Owten let,

the Nyntho day Of J>* kalendes (^ Juignet.* 100

thanne his Eyht hond he left vpc there, N««cien» maicM

theaignofth«

and Made the signe of the Crois In good Manere, > Ctom,

In the Name Of the trenite,

On God & persones thre, 104

That it scholde ben his protectour

In alle degrees a3ens the fals deceyvour,

Whiche is the devel, In Alle wise,

Man to deseyven In dyvers Gyse, 108

that to goddis beleve hath Ony lust,

him forto tempten he desireth most.

thanne thus this Xasciens to slepo?) be-gan,
as for Angwichs & a wery Man, 112

that to Slepen he hadde gret lust,

and there him down lay As he durst ; um dow&to

and the Mone Schon bo the fair & Cler
vppon Nasciens that Alone lay there, 116

that so ful wel & longe slept he tho
as A man that gret Nede hadde therto.
Thus slept I^asciens Al that Nyht
Til on the Morwen it was day lyht, 120

Where that In Avisioun him thowhte he aye andhMaVbion

M^nreillous thinges ful Sekerlye :

him thowhte he sawh gret plonte
White briddes Abowtes him to be. 124 ormwy wute

And whanne that these briddes he gan beholde, «boiu.

In his herte he Merveilled Manifolde,
for somme Of hem flowen wondir hye,
and somme wondir lowe Certeinlye, 128

and the tothir partye Of hem tho
Prom the Erthe ne myhte not go,
ne flen nowher from the grounde ;

' Car ch^estoit en este au nueuifime lour dee kalendes en
iungnet. — A.

34-^ THB BIRDS ASK KASCIEN8 FOR HIS HBART TO BAT. [CH. XZYII.

Where offen he MerveiUed that stownde. 132

Two or um wuto thanne Comen there tweyne of y grettest of Alle,

and down to the Erthe Gonne they falle ;

At his two feet they descendyd Adown there,
lift NMdMM Into And Into the £yr they him gonnen here. 136

thanne whan«, ho w«. in the Mr Au hy.
and bid him 4/. they seiden, '^Nasciens, fle forth holdly."

thanne Nasciens him self he-gan to hefaolde ;
HefladnhohM tho hadde he wengos that lyhtly woldo foldo 140

and Aplyen to his flyht thanne therto ;

}dm thowhte he was ful loly tho ;

Al whit him thowhte his wenges were,
and AiM. aud that lightliche he myht fleen there. 144

thanne thus Sone him thowhte Anon
Tho Birds iMTo that these grete hriddes weren Agon ;

tho that Maden him forto fle so liht,

from him weren past Owt Of his siht 148

and then iwino thanne to Xasciens A sen thei gonne Kestore,

And to him these hriddes Seiden thore,

And hoiien him ' jeven hem Som Mete,

Swiclie good As he Cowde Gete.' 152

thanne Answerid this Nasciens A3en tho,

" What Mete Welen je that I gete jow to,

And I Wele fulfillen it to my power

What So Evere it be, Ofer fer other nere." 156

thanne Answerid the briddis Ageyn,
and Mk him ** that neuere fulfilled scholen we ben Certein,

Ne Neuere Eoplet with non Mete

that thow myht 3even vs forto Ete, 160

forhtohoart but thine Owne herte Only

to oak

VS on to Fede now Certeinly."
HapoUsitoQii Anon he drowgh Owt his Owne herte,

and the brid it jaf, and nold it not Asterte. 164

•ndoM BirdfflM Anon the Brid Resceyved it Joyfully,

off Joyooalj

with it, Ss therwith flew ful fer An hy

With ful gret loye & melodye ;^

' This line in the MS has the pen drawn over it

Oa. XXVII.] THE SAYINGS OF THE WHITE BIRD. THE ISLE TREMBLES. 343

And thus he Seide In his langage, 168

As A brld for his kjnde singeth In a kage : *

" Now Am I fulfild," seide this brid,

" Of this herte As it is be-tyd ;

For now I have browht this thing vriih me 172

That non Wiht knoweth Certeinle ;

For it is but A litel thing ^

that the grete lyown hath Offe knoweng,

Wheche alle Erthly bestes With Membre & body 176

Yndir him ther kepeth he Certeinly.

and Whanne he hath Ouercomen hem Everichon,

— thus thowghte Nasciens that he gan don —

And Alle vndir his feet put hem tho, 180

^it him thowhte he ne hadde not do,

but In to the hevene he wolde than fle

With that he hadde thanne Sekerle.

thanne him thowhte that his flyht took he^ 184

and that Abouen Alle Mownteynes gan to fle,

£k the wawes of the Se, and the depnesse,

And the hevene Entred wM-Owten distresse."

And thus him thowhte thanne Nascien^ 188

That to him the Brid Seide Certein.
Thus sone his Ayisiown gan to Enden tho,
And Al Anon wakenge he Abreide Also.

Thanne wonderfully In his wakynge 192

he Felte the yl Anon Tremblynge
Aftyr the towr of the firmament ;
thus him thowhte that tyme present,
thanne M^Teilled Nasciens full wondirfully 196

Of Meving Of J>* yl ful trewely ;
and Ek Abascht Sore he was ^

Of that Menreil In that plas.

thanne gan he to lifben Tpe his hed, 200

and loked Abowtes In that sted ;
And As he gan loken bothe two and fro,
A wondirf ul bataille than herde he tho ;

uyinff that he
Ufuiaildwlth

«

MnacifliM't heart.

It ie the little
motue that freee
the Lion.

[leAfSO]

And yet when the
Lion has oveiv
come all beasta.

he thlnka he hae
done nothing
till he oan tij to
heaven.

Wing* come to
him (the Lion),
and he fliea into
heaven by the
chief gate.
lFromtA4
JWneA.]

Naselena walcea
from hie VUion.

He fMa the lale
trembling,
•Iter the turning
of the firmament.

346 TUK TUBNINO ISLE BEGINS TO TURN UPSIDE DOWK. [oH. XZVIL

fh« LoadrtoM As biiu Semed, In the botme Of the Se 204

Mid Air *tni|pf^ff

tor inart0i7 »ver That like Batajle scholde be

oo wondirful & so gret it was,

that him thowhte the yl In that plas

Scholde ban Sonken In to the netheie8[t] pyt 208

that Evere was Ordeyned, Oper Mad 3it ;

For so Angwischhous was that stour,

So ful of tempest And Of dolonre,

that for the grettest herted Ertbly Man 212

In his herte scholde had drede than ;
Eytry wtof ui» For there ^ nas non partie Of that yl tho,
AiMfooAtnt. ^ that It ne qwakede and scbok Also /

As dide Ony lef yppon A tie 216

that with the wynd Mevede sekerle :

be the depthe of the see and strenkthe it was,

And be strengthe of y Ademawnt In ]Kzt plaa ;

For be Comanding Of the firmament 220

that yl thanne tumede it verament.

Of wheche One partye he was witholde,*

it vnknowenge to alle men vndyr molde ;
TiMLoadstoiM but the Ademawnt hadde but litel degre 224

Ajens the £yr, ful Sekerle ;
hat no power For the AdemauRt hath no More strengthe

■giOiul tbo Air °

A^ens the Eyr, In brede ne lengthe^

Thanue A lytel praty fownteyne 228

A 30ns Al the grete See In Certeyne.

So that be strengthe of y Ademaunt Gerteinle
to kMp uie iiio Restreyneng of Mevyng of the yl ne Miht not be ;

but of the firmament it hadde Alle his Myht, 232

The Mevyng Of the yl, I sey jow Eyht.
Now So gret was this Melle

betwene the Ademaunt & y Eir sekerle,
•o u dips Into that ther^ the yl Into the Se gan lawnce, 236

tbOMft.

1 MS they

' Et il ooDuenoit par estoaoir que Tiale tomoiast al oom-
inaDdemeDt del firmament^ de qui ele auoit la nature retenue
en vne partie. — A.

CH. XXVII.] THB TURNINO ISLE TURNS UPSIDE DOWN.

347

Whiche thowhte hym thanne A wondir Chaunse,

So that the water Encresid so hye

Into the heyghthe of the yl Sekerlye,

So that him thowhte he hadde grettere Cold 240

thaime hete before tymes, be Manifold.

and whanne the yl thus Eemeved was
Yerre Into the See be this Cas,

Fill litel and litel it with-drowgh tho 244

Tyl the strengthe of the Ademant was Ago,
And tU he was In his Owne stedo Ageyn
bothe of heyghthe & brede In Certein.
Whanne Kasciens Felt & Sy al this thing, 248

Ful Mochel he hadde theroff Merveillyng ;
But he ne Cowde Aperceyven why
that the yl So mevede tho trewly.

thanne Anon Nasciens yp-dressed him tho, 252
And the yl A3en gan tremblen Also ;
Anon he beheld A-bowtes wel faste,
& y ton bed of the yl down bowed Atte laste,
and the io^er bed gan to Rysen fere An by ; 256

thus thowhte him to bis sihte Certeinly.
and jit this yl not ful litel it was,
For with-Inne it Self it hadde A gret spas.
For foureskore Miles it was Abowte, 260

and Sevene & fyfty in length with-Owten dowte ;
but Bathere More that yl was there
thanne lasse In Ony other Manere ;
For it is the Gyse Of this Storye, 264

In non Manure Of wyse forto lye.

Ful plein this Storye putteth In Mynde,
that Al the Certeinte of Sank Eyal is hard to fynde
for ony Man that Evere of womman was bom, 268
As I haue 30W Often Behersed befom ;
For that holy storye that to therthe Anexed was,
as Scheweth the Mowth Of trowf In this plas,
Which is Jesus Crist, Goddis sone, 272

Th« waiar gets
higheri

till at last th«
I*le Is length-
wiM on tha watar
iFreneA],

Than tha lato
tmnblaa.

Ita ona and tuna

doirni

and the otiiar

tomanp.

And jH Um lala
wMSOmilMCFr.
M«Mt]nmnd.
and B7 long.

The Storif oftk*
H0I9 Oraal Mnt
down on aanh

348 GHBI8T HIMSELF WROTE THIS 8T0BT OP THE GRAAL. [CH. ZXVTT.

writtmbj
ChrtrthimMlf
wUhhisown

BtlbnHis
pttMkmlM wroU
only twtett

1. TiM Old Law
IbrMoMi;

B. HlaJndgiiMiil
onUit Wooun
taktainAdaltsry,

written OD ih«
ground with hit
flngtr.

'Lrtlilm who
!• gnlltlMS,
throw the flrafe
•tone ftt her.'

that for V8 on the Boode was done ;

For In him Keuere falsnesse was fownde,

Xe neuere non Errour In non stownde.

For ther Keuere was Creature so hardy 276

that dorste with-sein this holy story,

Whiche Crist him self wtt^ his Owne hond

It wrot ys forto don to vndirstond.

And therfore to more worschepe it scholde be take
thanne for Ony Othir Mannes Sake, 281

For we ne Radden neuere In non storye
that Crist him Self wrot Sekerly
to fom his passiown In Ony stede 284

but In two, As we don Rede,
Whanne to Moises he wrot the lawe,*
and him it be-took be b' Olde dawe. .

the Secund was whanne ]>* Jewes certeinly 288

a womman hadden take In Avowtry ;

For to proven On hire his dom Anon,

With hire to-fore Jesus Gonne they gon ;

him forto tempten In this wise, 292

to him they hire browhte to haven I-wise.

thanne Crist to the Erthe Euclynod presente,

and wrot In the Erthe Er he furthere wente

With his fynger Evene Ryht there, 296

As Recordeth the Story thus here ;

For Crist that tyme ful wel it wiste,

al here Entent, and Al here liste ;

Only to Asayen what he wolde do, 300

the lewes this wom77ian browht him vnto.

thanne Crist to hem tho seide Ageyn,

** be-holdeth now here what this doth seyn ;

Whiche that is GUtles Of 30W Alle, 304

the Ferste ston on hire let falle."

' Li premiers escris ke il fesist, bI fu la haute oriBons qui
Teecripture claime I'orison notre Bignour, Ch'est le patre noster.
Gheli eacrist il de son pauch ea la pierre, qoant il enseigna a
ses desoiples commeDt 11 deuoient orer. — A.

CH. XXVII.] Christ's judgment on thb adulterous woman. 349

and In this Man^e Crist told hem here Sawe

Forto fulfillen here Olde lawe

that Moises hem tawhte be tho dayes, — 308

As this holy Storye to vs here Seyes, —

* 3if that a womrwan do Ony Avowtrye

And with Ony Other man ligge Onlye

thanne be hire Owne husbonde, — 312

thus was the lawe In that londe, —

that Anon I-stoned scholde sche be,

Alle swicho that weren taken In Avowtre.

ferioTe Crist wiste thanne ful wel 316

Alle here thowhtes Every del,
That to hym Comen they For tempteng,
and Files Seker for non Other thing ;
Therfore Schewed Crist hem In that degre 320

Alle here Owne Siynnes there Openle,
And Ek Schewed hem there In that Scripture
Alle the lignage Of man, I the Ensure ;
how that of so gret fowlnesse & vilete 324

that Man was of Mad, there gonnen they se ;
For tho wordis hadden this Mevynge
holiche as heire to Owre vndirstondynge.
For thus be-began this Scripture to Seye
Al Openly there to the Jewes Eye,
" har, Erthe ! why Art thow so hardye & so &e
The Erthe to Acvsen In Ony degre ? " *
this is so mochel here forto seyne, 332

' 0 thow Man that of filthe art Mad Certeine,
As of so foul dong & Slym of Clay,
that darst Owther be nyht Ofer day ;
Why darst thow ben of sweche mevynge — 336

Whanne thi self hast forfoted in Alle thinge —
For to susteyne & to holde these dedis ille
Wheche In alle degrees thow dost fulfiUe % '

* ** He, terre 1 pour quel ies tu si bardie ke tu aocoses, ou
OSes aocuser, la terre 7 " — A.

That Chrbt bad*
tlMm Max the
Old Lftv,

to itone a woman
tak«n in adultaryi

and showd them
their own tine.

328 Hii writing Mdd
to the Jew%

' Earth, why
darst thoQ accuse
Earth;

iinfttlman.

how dnrtt tboa
call 111 in othera
those deeds that
thoa doest
thyself? '

350 CHBI8T WItOTB THIS BLESSED 8T0BT OF SEINT GRAAL. [CH. XXTIl.

ItKajnuaimrm
Mjr that Chrtet,

•ino0 his fVtng,

wrote uiythlnf
save thla bl«Md
Seimt'Oraai
■tory (or&M*

iMlttt.

All who Mf •▼•

otherwiise,

Itotoo.

lo, in these two places ful sekerlje 340

We f jnden that the sone of Marye —
To fom that he wente to his passion,
and that he vppon the Crois was don —
thus Wrot Al this storie doth Eede, 344

and now here In non Other stede.

'but what Clerk is there So hardye,
that dar sein, Other proven Opealye, "
That God, Sethen his vp-Rysinge, 348

In Ony plase Made Ony wiytynge
Sauf Only this blessid Storye
Of Seint Graal ful Sekerlye,

Whiche that is Clepid < the Sank Byal ' 352

Of kyng, lord, bacheler, bo]y* grot & small ;
bo dar Sein the Contrarie Of this f —
Non Erthly man forsothe I-wis, —
Nethir be non devyn Awtorit** 356

the Contrarie proven In non degre.
And jif he Conne Aleggen Ony Oper wyse
In Ony degre As for his Repryse,
For A leseng it moste be taken Certeine, 360

Of AUe Swich that it don Sosteyne.

thanne thus May I ful boldly Seyn :

that Oj)«i*wiae beleven, they lyen ful pleyn,

but tliat God with his Owne bond 364

this Storye doth vs forto vndirstond,

Sethen that he Icfte the dedlich flesch here,

and In hevenly Maieste was Clothed witAowten pere.*

'— * Mais comnieDt ke il esploitast endemen tiers que il
estoit enuolepes de la mortel char, ia ne trouereii si hardi clero
qui die ke il onques fesist escripture puis la resurrection ne
mats ke seulement la haut escripture del saint graal ; Et que
vauroit dire que il, puis la resurrection, eust autre escriture
faite de sa propre main, il n*en porroit auant traire nule de-
uine auctorite, Et pour chou seroit 11 tenus a menteoiir. Don-
ques di iou bien que chil seroit de trop fol hardement espris,
qui menchoigne oscroit a croistre a si tres haut chose oomme
est cheste estoire, que li urais fiex dieu escrist de la aoie main
propre, puis ke il I'ot ius mis le mortel cors et reuestue la
cclestiene maieste. — A.

OH. XXVIII.] STILL OF NASCIKNS ON THB TURNING ISLB. 351

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Still of Naaoiens on the Tl Ibmeanmt. He prajs to God for
comfort (p. 852). The dsj dawns, and he sees on the
sea a little thing like a swan. It proves to be a Ship,
which comes to the island (p. 353) ; he walks to it as
fast as, in his disabled state, he can (p. 354) ; and is
going on board of it, but sees words warning him not to
enter unless he is full of faith (p. 355). He hesitates, but
prays to God, makes the sign of the cross, and enters the
ship (p. 356). He looks about every where, and in the
hold sees a white cloth, which he lifta up, and finds a
Bed, with a Crown of Gold at its head, and a Sword at
Its feet (p. 357); a wonderful Sword, with two beasts'
scales in its handle, 1. of the Serpent Papagaity a bone /
of which will always keep a man warm (p. 358) ; 2. of ^\
the Fish Ibrtena%»j whose bones are so strong, that if '
a man holds them, he forgets every thing but the bone, )
till he lays it down again (p. 358). The handle and
scales are ooverd with a red cloth, and on it is declard S

that no one shall draw the sword but the one worthiest of
all men (p. 359). The letters on the sword-blade say it ia
only to be drawn by the boldest of men ; any other will be
killed by it. Kasciens then looks at the scabbard, which
is rose-red (p. 360), with gold and azure letters on it ;
and out of it issue a thousand filthy branches, or hang-
ings. The letters say that he who bears the sword, and
is girt with the branches, shall ever be safe (p. 361).
Nasciens turns the sword ; the bed quakes (p. 362) ; the
other side of the sword (1. 392) is blood-red, with coal-
black letters, saying that he who praises it most hero will
blame it most in his need, &c. (p. 362-3). Nasciens cannot
make out what the scabbard is made of (p. 368), nor does
the Story here tell us; but 'al this schal ben declared
sauns delay * when the right time and place come (p. 364).
Now for another myster}' : — How, from the bed where the
Sword and Sheath were, Three Spindles came, joind to-
gether (p. 364-5) ; of which one was white as snow, the
second blood-red, and the third emerald-green (p. 865).
And because these things must be explaind, therefore the
Story proceeds to expound them (p. 365), beginning with
Eve and Adam in Paradise, and going on with the Fall,
the death of Abel, the building of this Ship by carpenters
for Solomon and his wife, who look on, and then put the
Swosd, &a on board the Ship. (^See Chapteri 29 and 30.)

Kow bothe Eesown & Byht it is

A3eii to the Storye to tomen wit/t-Owten Mis,

And to this yl to tornen Ano» Agein,

That so brood & so longe Is In Certein ; 4

352 KA6CIXNS PRATS TO GOD FOR 00UN8KL. [CH. XXVni^

And 3it it to vs Scheweth Apresslj,

the declarenge Of this holy Storye,

That Nasciens was In the laste Ende,
NMdMs b oo ttM that Gentjl dwk so good & kende. 8

Towardis the west partye of the see

This fill tiewe dwk thauue was he ;

but jit the see not So nygh he was,

that be-twene hem was a ful gret spas, 12

aboot 71 miiM the Mowntawnce Of Sevene Miles bedene,

flhiiiitht MB.

and An half Mile, with-Owten wene.

Whanne Kasciens the day Can to dawe,'
thanne Of that Sihte he was ful fawe, 16

And that he myhte haven Ony knowenge
Of what partie of the see he was, wtVi-Owten varienge ;
And for As Mochel as the day is more Comfortable
thanne is the Nyht, with-Owten Ony fable, 20

For Evere hadde he In ful hopinge.
Be the day to hauen had som Comfortynge.
HekiiMiitotht and with this, Nasciens, lu-to the Est he knelid

EMt,

adown,

and there Anon to God Made his Orisown, 24

MidprajBto Preyeng to Jesus that wa^Maryes sone,

(As Other God than him ne knew he none)

* that he Wolde of his gret Mercye, —

— lik As he was On Only god verraylye, 28

And that non Other god neuere Nas but he,

Most Myhtful god In Maieste,

In whiche On Only god beleved he,

thre persones, but on God in vnite, — 32

to wnd him that Swich Counseil he wolde him sende,

eounwl to amend

him UA. helthe to his Sowle, his lif to Amende.'

And whanne thus his preyere he hadde I-do,

The Signe Of the holy Cros On him made he tho, 36

and Also he Made it In his face,

the strengere to be thorwh goddis grace.

' Et quant II yit au matin aioumer. — A.

OH. xxyiil] to nascikns comes a wondrous ship.

353

and whanne he hadde thus I-do,
to the nexte party of y Se wente he tho ;
& whanne he hadde gon the spas of half a Myle,
Into the See he gan loken with-Inne A while ;
A lytel thing him thowhte he say Comen there^
Ko More thanne A swan As thowh it were^
That streyht to the yl it gan Aplye —
» As this Storye vs scheweth ful sekerlye ; —
to the same Ende that he Inne was,
thedir it Appliede, As happed be Cas.

and whanne he Saw it So faste Comenge,
Euere the grettere it wax, to his semengo ;
but thanne miihte he not ful wel go ;
For so forbrosed his feet weren tho
with the Chenes Of his presownenge,
that to Walken hadde he non likynge :
and Anothir Skelo there was also,
that he nas neuere Mochel wont forto go.
jit wente he forth with ful gret peyne,
And Aftir that thing he loked A-geyne
Wheche that he beheld In the Morwenyng,
that to-ward the yl Cam flotering ;
and thanne parceyved ho Sone In haste,
That A fair Schipg it was Atte laste,
the wheche was [so] wondirly fair & Eiche,
That In Al this world him thowhte non swiche.

And whanne this Schip^ he gan be-holde, .
In his herte he loyede ful Manyfolde,
And peyned him faste thanne forto go
To wardis the See, As he myhte tho ;
So that With gret peyne & Angwisch Also
Atte laste to this Schipe Cam he to.
And whanne thedir he was Comen ful Byht,
Ful wery he was, and hadde non Myht.
Thanne sawh he that bothe his feet In fere,
Alle for hete for^sckorchid were,

OBAAL. 23

40 Naadeiu walks
toward! tlMMa;

andaeaa coming

44

48

flut towards lUm

52

56

60

a Ship,

richer than any
other in the
64 world.

68

He walka,
with great pnln.

tothiaShip.

72

354 THi SHIP (qolokon's) and its lkttbbs of gold. [ch. zxvul

and £k for-Bent they weren Also,

For the Ijtel weje that he hadde go ; 76

So that £r thike vij miles hadde he gon,

It was Of the daj the tyde Of Noon ;

thonne was he hothe feynt, wery, & fastynge,

and Al distrowbled for his Travaillynge. 80

Anon thanne loked he A lytel beside
Yppon the Ryht half of him In that tyde,
NawtoiM MM tht thanne Sawh he A ScIiiM A-Ryde

Mdp doM to him. — ,

Evene fast by him Also blyre ; 84

than)ie thowhte him it was the same thing
that Al day hadde he Sein to his Supposing ;
So to-wardis that Schipe he tomod Anon
Also faste As tliat he Cowde Gon. 88

It b M rkdi thftt the Schipe, So Riche & So fair it was,

lie maiTtis.

And M^rveillede how that It Cam In to )»at plas.
And whanne he be-gan thus it longe to beholde,
In liis horte he Menreilled lilany folde; 92

pMf 90] And ^[ochel More Merveil thanne hadde he,
For Nethir Man ne womman ne cowde ho se
that Schip with-Inne to warde OJ>er Gye :
thus telleth this Storie ful Openlye. 96

thanne gan he him drawen Neer & Neere,
Til that to the Schipe he was Come there ;
and In han Entred ful fayn wold he.

He cm Mt DOOM ^if Ouy Mou thero-Inue mihte he Se, 100

and forto proven the trewthe there
Of that Bewte In AUe Manere,
3if with-Inne it were As fayre Owt Ryht,
As with-Owten it was there to his syht. 104

Anon As In-to the Schip Entren Wold he,

Botinttieftir*- In that for-schip he Sawh ful Sekerle

■Mp bt 8Mt ^

chaidMu letton lettres Of Gold, I yndirstonde,

in gold. , . .«^ . . *^,, , , ,/Nft

that As Wnteng it was of Caldee londe, 108

that As pitous word they gonne to Speke.
thanne Nasciens Ner to the Schip gan Reke ;

GU. XXVIII.] TH£ WRITING ON THE FORESHIF OF SOLOMON'S SHIP. 355

For that Word there so dowtable was

To Ony man that Entren wolde Into fat plas. 112

Lo, these wordis seide the Scripture

as I the schal Schewe, I the Ensure,

"thow that wilt with-Inne me^ Entren here,

loke thou be stedfast In alJe manere, 116

And that thou ful of feyth algates be ;

For with-Innes me nis thing uon but feith sekerle ;

therfore I Kede, devise the ful wel

that thow be Clene Everydel,

and stedfast In feith & In Creaunco,

Oper elles the be-happeth Som Meschau/ice.

For stedfast feith, Creaunce it is ;

and Anon As thow thy Creau;2ce dost mis

In Ony partie Or In Ony degre,

I the forsaken Schal ful Sekerle,

that Of me Sostenaunce shalt fo\i non have,

'Neper non helpe, thowh thou Crye and Crave, 128

but I schal the faillen In thyn most nede,

and leten the fallen with-Owten drede.

So that thou schalt Llost thanne be

For fewt of beleve, And thow it fle." 132

thanne with-stood this Kasciens In that stede,
and these lettres of gold he gan forto Bede ; >
and whanne he hadde longe him bethowht
how that Schipe thedir was I-browht, 136

Into the Schipe he wolde han gon,
but that word him Stoned Anon
that was so dowtful & Charchable,
For they Weren "VVordis Of non fable. 140

and whanne In this thowht he hadde longe I-be,
Other wyse he gan tho him be-se,
and him bethowht In Other Manere
How that he Scholde Goveme him there. 144

Thanne In this manere thus gan he Seyn :

* MS with Inne ne

Xbeie letten layt

*<Thon that wilt
enter Uile Ship,

beflUloffidtb,

1 20 P^^ ^^ Btedfiut
in beliet

124 IftboafiOleatiu
one pointy

I wiU fkU thee In
thy moet need,

and thou ahalt
be kMt."

Atflrat,

thoee words stop
Naadens going on
board the ship.

356 NA8C1BN8 PRATS, AND THEN BOARDS SOLOMON'S SHIP. [cH. XXYIIT.

KMdOTtiiqra. « 0 goode lord God, of AUe thinges Sovereign,

"Lord Ood,

the wordis Of this Schipc Seith here,
that hut feyth nys there-Inwe in now manure ; 148

and 3if these lettres now trewe here he,
1 know this Bbip thanne wot I wel ful certeinle

It atot bj ThM.

that this Schipe he 30W hedir Is I-sent ;

this knowe I wel thanne verament. 152

And 3if only it he Comen from 30W,

thanne In My Creaunce knowe I now

that non Evel thing there-Inne May he^

Ne Contrariowsness In non degre 156

that scholde A3ens ^oura glorious Name
I iwiteTt In ThM^ hen Beprof, velenie, Ofer elles schame.

hut, lord, I heleve In 30W ful faithfully ;

wheche Creawnce I took ful devoutly 160

Of thin One Seriaw[n]t so dere.

That pow wost hen worschepid & heleved In alle
manure ;
and In it«dflwt And In Stediast heleve, the Ay worschepinge,
tutor um Ship." I schal In Entren for Ony thinge. 164

For who that Is In thi stedfast heleve,

From Alle Misaventures it doth him Meve,

and Saueth him, and £k Alle tho

that In thy heleve stedfast go ; 168

In what Maner peryl that so he he,

thi heleve him saveth Sekerle."
NtMsitni crotitt thus sone Sir6 Nasciens left vp his hond,

hlmtelf,

and made the signe of Holy Cros, I vndirstond, 172
MidgoaionboMd And Entred In to the Schip Anon

(htShip. ^

Also Faste As he myhte Gon.

And whanne that Entred he was with-Inne,

Fast loked he Ahowtes, and nolde not hlynne ; 176

In Alle parties loked he ful faste ;

And so faste he loked Atte laste,

So that him thowhte In non Maner of Se

A fairere Schipa ne Myhte he ; 180

OH. XXVIII.] NASCIENS FINDS A BED, GROWN OF GOLD, AND SWORD. 357

And thus to liim Selye he gan to seyn,

* That So fair a schip he Sawh neuere Certein,'

Ne so fill of Bewte neper of Richesse

Sawh he neuere to fore As that, I Gesse, 184

As that Same was to his Avis,

fi)r of Alle Schepis it bar the pris.

Aud whanne Alle the Corners he hadde Serched
Ahowte,
Aboven and benethen, with-Owten dowte, 188

thanne to pe bowk of y schipe gan he gon,
and there atte laste he fond Anon ;
he beheld Where heng A Cloth of Whit ;
it was ful plesaunt to his delyt ; 192

and lik A Cowrtyn him thowhte it was,
that was hanged In that plas.

thanne Anon lefte he vp tliLs Co/irtyn In haste ;
there-vndir, a faire bed he fond atte laste, 196

the Wheche the fairest & ]>* Eichcst bed it was
that eu«re to fore he Saw In Ony plas ;
and at the hed of the Same bed

was A Crowne of gold In that sted ; 200

and at the beddis feet Sekerliche
A swerd there was, bothe faire & Riche,
Wheche vppon the bed it lay Ouerthwert,
Al this, Sire Nasciens, it Sawh Apert — 204

Whiche that Owt of y Skawberk was draws
half A fote & an handful, thus seith this Sawe.
this swerd was of di\ieps faciou» Sekerlye,
as here Witnesseth this holy Story e, 208

For the pomel was of swich A ston
That Colours it hadde Manyon,
As Manye As on the Erthe myhte be
To his Sihte there weren vpon, sikerle ; 212

and £ch Of the Colours hadde a Clerte,
and £ch Clerte A vertu, as fat storie scheweth me,
Where As this Storie doth declare

NftKlens pokes
about tha Shiii^

gOM into tlie
hulk.

a white cloth

like a oartaln.

and findi nnoer
It the liehert Bed
he ever saw,

withaCrownof
gold at tte head,

and a Sword at
Itolbot,

drawn 10 indkea
out of the
■eabbard.

Thepomclofthe
Sword is a stone
of many ooloors.

358 THB HANDLE OF THB SWORD ON BOLOMON'b SHIP. [CH. XXYfll.

The handla of Um
Sword U mado
of iwo aoalM,

the Ist ofa Ser-
pent of ChaldKft

ealldhiMCMt,—

a bone of which

will keep a man
alwnjs In moder-
ate beat,—

the tnd ofa fish
of the Saphratee

ealld Tortenani,

aboneofwbloh
when held in the
hand suspends a
man's memoiy.

Of Mani mo^ thinges whanne he Cometh thare. 216

thanne to the handyl Of this swerd,
there nas non swich In Middillerd ;
For tweyne Skales it hadde, witA-Iime the hood,
Of two diuers bestes, as I vndirstond ; 220

the ton sckale was In Maner of A Serpent,
that In Caldiens lond was most present
thanne In Ony Oper lond Certein ;
there was his hawntyng I telle 30W pleyn. 224

and * papagast ' was this Serpentis Name,
Whiche was a Serpent of A wondirfal fame.
For this is the kynde of that Serpent,
What man that A bone of his hath yerament, 228

him Nedeth neuere non Other hete,
Nethir of sonne, ne of travaille, to don him swete ;
but that Evere In Mesurable hete he schal be ;
this vertw hath his bon ful Sekerle, 232

WhereoiTen the ton sckale of the handele it is.
As I haue jow told with-Owten Mys,'

The tothir Skale is Of A fysch of the Se,
That In Ewfrate most wont is forto be ; 236

And In Othir water Is it non,
but only In Ewfrate Al Alon.
* Tortenavs ' * is the Name Of this fysch,
As we it Mown Sownen In Englysch. 240

And his bones of these strengthe ben.
As Me declaren here schole ^q sen ;
For As long As Ony man it hath On honde —
I do 30 w ful wel forto vndirstonde — 244

that nethir of ioye ne of sorwe schal he have In Mende,
but onlich Of that bon, swich is the kende ;
and whanne Owt his bond it is I-don,
To his kende Memorie Cometh he Anon 248

As Owhte forto ben In A kendly man.
Lo, swich A vertu this bon hath than !

1 MS DO ' MS Nya ' Cortnaua— A. Ortenax— B.

CH. XXVIII.] THE WRITING ON THE CLOTH OVEH THE SWORD-HANDLE. S59

behold what vertw Is In these bones tweyne,
Where offen the handele is Mad In Certeine !

Wheche handele & sckales, I-keue7*ed it was
With A Riche Red Cloth In that plas,
I-set wel ful of lettres Of Gold,
(As he myhte there pleynly behold,)
Wheche that Spoken In this degre
ful Openly, As he myht wel Se ;
" I am Merveillous to beholde On A rowe,
And jit moche more M^veiUous I Am to knowe ;
For me Schal neu^re man taken On honde —
As I do the Forto vndirstonde, —
be his hand neuere So large Ss gret.
Me schal he not drawen, I the behet ;
Ne non Man that is Erthly levenge,
but Onlich On Man with-Ovten varienge.
And he Schal ben the most wortliiest,
the Most Able, & the Most best,
that Euere was 'him before,
And schal possen Alle ]?at is bore,
Of prowesse and of konnenge.
Of alle tho that to-fom him weren levenge,
Ofer Evcre^ Scholen ben In tyme Comenge;
Swich Schal his strengthe ben & his konnenge."
and thus the lettres of the handelyng spak
To this Sire Nasciens with-Owten lak.

and whanne Sire Nasciens beheld al this,
Ful Sore he was Astoued wtt^-Owten Mis ;
and Marveilled ful Mochel In his thowht
In what Manere these lettres weren wrowht ;
And what they weren forto Mene,
In his herte ho Merveilled be-dene.
thanne beheld he the blad of y swerd
that so drawen lay, As to-fore 30 han herd ;
And there-vppon loked he wonder faste.
And Eede lettre he Aspide pat 0;ine atte laste.

252

Tlie handle and
■calea are coverd
with a red cloth
whereon is written

256

260

'Nomanehall

264 •v«r draw me

tnaotpt the ableek
and beet Uiat
268 everUrd.'

272

f} MS Eveiure]

276

Kaeelens la
astonlaht.

280

He looks at the

284 blade of the
Swcnrd.

360 ONLY THE BOLDEST MAN CAN DRAW THE BWORD. [CH. XXVni.

Naadens rtadi oa

' Let no man
drmw mt but tb*
boldettofaU,
or h* ahaU dto.'

Than Im looka at
tba Scabbard,

which ia aa rad
aiarow.

Wheche weren As Bed as Anj Blood ; J

thus liim thowhte \er^ As he stood. 288

thanne took^ he this swerd A lytel Ner,
And gan to Reden tho lettres In this Maner ;
thanne Had he how this Resown Mente
As I schal 30W declaren here presente : 292

It seide that '^ Neu<;re man Scholde ben haidj
Me Owt forto drawen ful Sekerly,
hut better thanne Anothir he Mowe fyhte,
and more hardiere, & more Of mihte ; 296

And hos Otherwise drawe it In onj sted^
he schal ben the ferst that schal be ded«"
(and this proved wel Schal ben.

As aftir In this Storie here scholen ^e sen.) 300

and whanne Nasciens these lettres hadde Bed,
he MeryeiUed him Mochel In that Sted,
Most Of Ony Othir thinge

that he Sawh sethen the begynneng. 304

'And It was on of y thinges most In his talent,
that Swerd owt to drawen verament,
and Owt of the Sckavberk it forto se,
to knowen what Meneng It Myhte be ; 308

For the lettres that it seide with-Owte,
^af Nasciens Most Talent with-Owten dowte.*

thanne Nasciens beheld the Sckawberk tho,
that for Menreille he Niste what to do ; 312

And for Al that he Cowde be-holde,
Benethen, Of er Aboven, In Ony folde,
and ^it Nethir In herte, Mynde, ne thowht,
he ne Cowde not weten where-offen it was wrowht ; 316
but wel he wiste it was Al so Red, /
and As Ony Red Rose In that sted ;

' Lora se traist vn peu auant, si les commencha a lire. — A.

*— ' Car oh'estoit vne chose dont il auoit trop grant talent,
ke de Pespee traire honi del fuerre, et de ueoir quale ele estoit.
Car les meruelles ke leg letres disoient de dehors, Ten faisoient
plus entalente. — A.

CU. XX71II.] OF THE FOUL HANGINGS OF THE SWOBD's SCABBARD. 361

Where-aboven weren lettres of gold,

As he gan there to be-hold ; 320

Eucre On Of Gold, Anothir Of Asure ;

thas weren they set, I the Ensure.

And A thowsend hraunches^ on this schawherk were,

(Whiche was so Eiche, As I Eehersed 30W Ere,) 324

that issweden Owt from that Onle,

that Most M^rveillous thing it was to se ;

For Of so fowl Mater they were,

and therto So powre In ]pai plase there, 328

And as of spittynges and Cayty vetes.

Of febelnesses, of filthes, in many degres,

that bothe be Semblaunt & Countenaunce

It was to hjnoi gret dowtaunce : 332

For An Our the swerd it myhte not Sosteine,

So feble it was, him thowhte Certeine.

And the lettres that On sckawberke were,
In this Maner Seiden they there.; 336

" hos that Me vppon him doth here,
Ful Sewr he Schal ben Euery where ;
And more hardy therto schal he be
thanne Ony Ofer man In his degre. 340

3if he here me In that Manere
as the lettres Of p* swerd Rehersed Ere.
For what man that Abowtes him bereth Me,
he ne schal nenere ben schamed In non degre 344
as longe as with these braw[n]ches he is gert,
and that On his body I hange Ouerthwert.
but that neu6re non be so hardy
that the Raunges that here ben to don Awey ; 348
for him schal happen Manie Misaventure
And Manye Evel dedes, I the Ensure,
that he, ne non Man levenge,
Of him schal tellen non Amendynge ; 352

* Et si n*i anoit nules renges ki auenisaent a si riohe
fuerre 00m ohil estoit. —A.

Tha Scabbard hM
1000 hangings,

botoffiraland
poor stuff.

On tha Scabbard
Is written,

' Whoso bears me
on him shall be

and nerer aham'd
ai long as he's
girt arlth these
hangings.

which no man
most erer take
off.

8G2 THS WRITING ON THE OTHER SIDE OP THE SWORD. [cH. XXVIII.

But Um hanginga
•hall bt Ukcn off
by tlM danghtor
of a King and
QiiMn/

Naadaiu tarna
tbe Sword,

the Bad qiukaa.

DaafSI]
The other aide of
the Sword ia
blood*red,

with ooal-blaok
latters on It,

eajing^

'Who pralaee mt
moot,

shall blame me
moat in hla need.

' Xe behoten nenere schal be to Man
80 hard as to him Schal be than
that now Is, ne that Neuere schal be,
but 3if In sauf Ostag he be Sekerle ; 356

And ^it him be-hoveth to ben Osteyed
In the Manero as here Is seide,
Wheche sholde ben be A wommannes bond,
bothe kynges dowhter & qweene, I yndirstond.^ 360
this womTTian be ]>* Riht name schal clepeu this sweid,
and Me by my Name Openly & Apert ;
For neuere to-foren In-to that day
Kon Creature be ouie riht name Clepen ne may." 364
Ful longe this Nasciens this Skawberk gan beholde,
and in his herte he Merveilled ful Manifolde.
& whanne thus In the Schip he hadde loked Abowte

On Alle party es with-Inne & with-Owte ;
but neuere so soft ne Cowde he gon,
that Al the bed be-gan to qwaken Anon
from the ton £nde to y tojjer, In that plas ;
In this Manere this bed So qwakyng it was.
And whanne he tomede, & it be-held,
For discomfort he ne Myhte hym weld ;
For to him it semede tho As Bed As blood ; '
and fervppon wondirful lettres there stood^
that As Ony Cole so blak they were, ^
the Resoun that was I-weten there ;
Wheche lettres Seiden In that Stede,.
As that tyme I Cowde hem Eede :
'' hos that Me preiscth most here,
Most Schal I him fynde In Oper Manere,
So that In gret Nede blamed schal he not be
In non wise, As I telle it the.

368

372

376

380

384

*— ^ Ne il n'est otroie a nul home qui ore aoit, ne aaenir soft,
ke il en soit osteres. Anohois en doiuent estre ostes par mam
de feme, fille de roi et de roine. Et si 1 metera tel esoange
pour oheSf ke ele en fera vnes autres de la choae qui sour li
soit ke ele ara plus chiere, et si le metra en Ueu de chea. — A.

CH. XXVni.] WHAT CAN THE SCABBARD BE MADE OpI

363

400

and to hym to whom I scholde ben Most debonayrey

To him w/t/t most Anger I wele Kepeire :

Which schal be-happe bnt Ony[8], Sekerly/

As I the telle here now Openly :

For with-Owten faille so moste it be

At that tyme Onys ful Sikerle."

Swiche wordis seide the lettrore there

that on p' swerd weren wreten In that manure. 392

and the Skavberk he be-held Agcin :
than merveiUed he gretly In Certein,
For that partye was non Othir I-liche,
but to his Sihte As blak As Ony pich ;^
thaune Abasched he was ful Sore,
that he ne wiste what to sein no More,
For he ne Cowde demen of what kynde,
Ne nether to purposen In his Mynde ;
but As him thowhte there be Eesou/i,
Aftir A man^ of tre was the facioun ;
and Ofer whille him thowhte pai it was
Of lether I-mad In that plas,
but he ne Cowde devise In non degre
Of what Maner Of Beste it Myhte be ;
Anothir tyme him thouhte Of yrne it was,
Owthir of sum 0]?er Metal In that plas :
Thus wolde he han declared it be him selve ;
but ^it Cowde he not putten the £x In y helve.

^Thus doth Nasciens with gret Entencioiin ;
but Ay he is In ful gret Trebulaciouri, 412

For the Skawberk to haven Offe knowenge,
but he ne Cowde for non manere thinge,
Ojer Whille to On thing In Certeinte,
And OjcrwhiUe to Anothir ; but it wolde not be.* 416

* Et ohe n^auenra o^une fois. — ^A.

*-* Ensi estoit nasoiens en tenohon pour le fearre vers Boi
inelsme ; Si ke 11 en affermoit a le fie vne choae, et a le fle
deadisoi^ ke a nule chertaine parole ne sauoit asener a quoi il
se peust tenir. — A.

And to him I
•hoald be moat
gentl*,
IwlUteiiMMl

388 Bat only ooM.*

Tho othor ride of
the Soabtord Is

396 as blade M pitch.

Kasdens can't
think wbeUier it's

made of wood.

404 toather.

408

Iron, or metal:

bat be can't pot
the axe In the
helve.

364 ALL THB BE0RET8 *LL BB DI8CL06D IN DUB TIMIL [CH. XXVIII.

thos neihir the swerd hondel, ne pomel,
KmcImis mnt Ke Cowdo ho declaren Neuere A del :

Where-Offen the swerd I-forged was,
the Sword or And wheiis it Cam, & from what plas, 420

flh— til fionii floiiL

Ne ho that the Swerd schold thedir bringe^
he ne cowde not wetcn for nort thinge ;
Nether the strengthe of that schethe fere
he ne Cowde declaren it In non Manere, 424

Ne not devisen of what kynd it was
he ne Cowde for non Maner of Cas,
Kor Kn tht Ne]^er of the grete Merveilles that ben comenge
in Qrmi Britain In dluers Eeawmes w/tA-Owten varyenge ; 428

And of the grete Breteyne Also,
What Merveilles that schal Comen hire to :
Of AUe these thinges that to forn Rehersed be,
toidytt. this Storye jit declareth not Sekerle. 432

Botwhen tbt but whanne that tyme Cometh therto,

right tlnM oomai^

That declareng of p^ swerd we scholen gon to ;
Thanne schal that swerd be knowen fill wel,
And the propre Name there Offen Everidel, 436

And the lettres that vppon the schethe be,
thm Bhaii trwy- thanne scholen they ben knowen Openle.

thing be known.

For whanne that Cometh bothe tyme & day,
Al this schal ben declared sauns delay, 440

the kynde of the Swerd, and schethe also.
And AUe the vertwes that longen therto.
thanne Openly I-schewed scholen they be,
lik as this holy Storie telleth Certeinle.^ 444

Now we leare the Now beleveth this Storye here

Sword end Soeb>

herd. Of the Swerd and the schethe, In this Manure ;

and Speketh here of Anotliir Entent

that Oppon the Bed was verament : 448

One spindle A spvndele was there schoten forth Ryht

Bhooteoatofthe ^*^

Bed; thorwh the bordis Of the bed, I the plyht ;

* End of a ohapter in the English Ma The French
runs on.

CH. XXVIII.] OF THB SPINDLES ON THE BED IN THE SHIP.

3G5

and Anothir Spyndele Ouerfcliwert was fere do,

that bo then to-Glederis metten they tho ; 452

and bothe Spindelis, As long they were

As lengthe & brede of y bed Everywhere.

And to the hed Of the two spyndelis certein

Anojer spyndele was loyned, I sey jow pleyn j 466

Of these thre, ful Mochel there is to schewe,

Of manie diuers poyntes vppon *A Bewe.

but now this Story e telleth here,
that the ferste spyndle was In Alle Manere, 460

was Also whit As ony snow snewenge ;
And the laste was as Bed as blood bledenge ;
And the ou^rth-wert that Aboven was,
lik to An Emerawde In that plas ; 464

As Grene As An Emeraade it was there
To his Syhte In Al Manere :
Of these thre Colowres Sekerlye
Weren these iij spindelis trewelye, 468

that with-owten Natural peyntyng were,
but Offe here Owne kynde Alle there ;
For nether be Erthly man ne wommane
thedyr ne weren they now browht thanne. 472

And for As mochel as to the peple it is dowtaunce,
but declareng J>ere-on»e be witA-owten variaunce,
And but fero-oSen they knewen more vndirstondeng,
Elles wolden they holden it for A gabbyng, 476

There-fore here turneth this Storye,
and of Anothir thing Maketh Memoiye
that is ful swete forto here,

bothe forto lestene & ek to lere ; 480

And In tyme Comeng, this Storye
the thre spyndelis schal doclaren Opeulye,
And Of the Schipe Al the knowlechinge,
Alle this Scholen je knowe/i In tyme Comenge.^ 484

' Sir Thomas Maleor's account of Galahad^s finding the Ship,
and of the Mysteries and their history, is in Chapters 83 — 88,

a Moond Spindle
nuuacrMiit;

and a third 'i
J<rfnd to the top
of the other two.

The 1st Spindle
!• wliite i

tbeSrd red;

the tnd emerald-
greeo.

And beeanM folk
would think all
this nonBcnae
anleee more were
eaid about it»

tliia StOTT 'U ten
'em all about the
Ship, Spitidlee,
Ac.

3G6 OF ADAM AND EVB. [CH. XXIX.

CHAPTER XXIX.

The EpiBode of Adam and Eve in PRradim, the Tree of Life,
the Death of Abel, and the building of a Ship for Solo-
mon and his wife. How Eve, the first sinner, is
tempted bj the Devil to eat of the forbidden Tree, and
pulls off a branoh of it (p. 368), and gets Adam to eat an
apple too (p. 368). How they know that they are naked,
and are ashamd * each of others members * (p. 369). God
comes to them and proDounoes their doom (p. 369), and
turns them out of Paradise, Eve carrying the branch
of the Forbidden Tree in her hand (p. 370). She thinks
she will always keep the branch in sight, to remind
her of her sin ; but^ as she has no hutch to put it in,
* for at that tyme was no swich in makyng,* she plants it
(p. 370), and by God*8 grace it takes root, and signifies
mnch gladness (p. 370) ; for, as by woman Paradiae wns
lost, BO by woman (the blessed virgine Maree) it shall be
restored to man (p. 371). How the branch grows into a
great tree, which is wholly white, signifying Virginity
(p. 371). Of the difference between maidenhood, purity
of body, and virginity, purity of soul and body (p. 372).
How Eve is a Virgin when she plants the branch of
the Tree of Life, and till Adam lies with her at Christ* s
command (p. 372). She and Adam sit grieving under the
IVee ; and Eve says it is the cause of their grief, and may

pp. 293—304, vol. ii. of the 1816 reprint of the 1634 edition of
'The History of the renowned Prince Arthur, King of Britain.*

Chapter

LXXXIIL Sow Sir Galahad rode with a Dam$el, and came
into a Ship whereas Sir Bors and Sir Pereivale were in,

LXXXIV. How Sir Galahad entered into the Ship, and (/
a fair Bed that was therein^ with other marcelloiu thingi
[the Serpent and fish Ortenar"], and of a Srrord,

LXXXV. Of the Marvels of the Strord, and of ilte Scabbard
[^and of Naeien on the Isle of TumancOy ^v.].

LXXXVL How King Pelles was smitten through both the
27iighSf becavse he drew the Sword, and of fnarreUotti
Histories [namely y the Three Spindles : Eve's planting
the white tree, its change to green ; AbeVs death; SoUh
man and his wife"],

LXXXV n. How Solomon took Bavid^s Sword by the Counul
of his Wife, and of other fnarrellous matters [making
the Body Ship, and Girdles for the Sword'\.

LXXXVin. Cf tlie wonderfvl Tale of King Solomon and his
Wife [and how Sir Percivale's sister put a new girdle
of her own hair to the sward, and girded Sir Galahad
with it; and how tfiey earns on the mifrrow to a castle
that men called Carteloise, that was in the marshes of
Scotland],

CH. ZX1X.J OP THE TREE OF LIFE, AND CAIN AND ABEU 3G7

be called the Tree of Death (p. 373). A voice tells them
to comfort one aDother, as Life is much nearer them
than Death. They do this, and call the tree The Tree
of Life (p. 373), and plant branches of it (p. 374).
One Friday, as they sit under itja voice commands Adam
to know his wife fleshly (p. 374). They are greatly
ashamd. So Christ pities them (p. 874), and ordains that
men shall restore the Tenth Legion of Angels that were
cast into Hell, and sends Adam and Eve darkness, in
which they copulate, and beget Abel the Just. The
darkness disappears (p. 375), and, in consequence of the
copulation, the white Tree of Life, and all other trees, turn
from white to green (p. 376) ; and the Tree of Life, which
before was barren, bears flowers and fruit (p. 376) : signi-
fying Abel's good life. How Abel gives tithes and his best
things to Ood (p. 376), but Cain gives his worst (p. 377).-
And when they sacrifice, the sweet smoke of Abel's offer-
ing goes straight to heaven, but the stinking smoke of
Gain's spreads over the fields ; on which Cain resolves to
kill Abel (p. 377). One day Abel goes after his sheep, and
lies down and sleeps under the Tree of Life (p. 378). Cain
follows him, thinking to kill him unperceivd, but Abel
sees him and welcomes him. Cain runs at him with an
* op-courl)ed knyf ,* smites him * vndir the pappe ' (p. 378),
and, — ' vntrewe brother,* — kills him (p. 379), on a Friday,
under the tree under which he was begotten (p. 379).
How AbePs death signifies Christ^H, and Cain typifies
Judas; 'for it is the oondisciown of a cursed man to
haten a good man what that he can* (p. 379). How
Christ condemns Cain *be kyng Davy in the Sawter
book * (p. 380). God asks Cain where Abel is. Cain
covers the body up with leaves, and says 'with him
have I not for to done '. Qod curses Cain and the earth
(p. 380), but not the Tree of Life, which turns from
green to red directly after AbeVs death ; and grows very
large, but bears no flower or fruit (p. 881). How the
tree is held in great reverence by £ve*8 descendants (p.
381) ; and how they come to it in times of trouble, and
call it the Tree of Counsel and of Comfort (p. 382). How
it and its saplings continue beautiful till, and after, the
Deluge, and are calld 'Trees of Life ' by all who see tiiem
(p. 882-3).»

Thus be Aventure Aa gan be-falle,

that Eve the ferst womman of Alle,

that the ferst Synne Evere wrowhte,

wherthorwh mankynde was browht to Nowhte 4

» The Additional MS 10,292, If. 31, b. 3, heads this chapter,
" Ensi que eue et adam sunt pardevant I'arbre, et adam se preut
par le geule,"

368

EVE AND ADAH EAT TUB APPLE IN PARADISE. [CH. XXIX.

Tbt DtvU rMolTt

to tempt Kvt to
Mtofth*
ForbiddMi Tim.

H« gets htr to
puUoffabnneh,
to pluck BU Applet

biltit,

give It to Adam,

and he eati of
It too.

When tb^y'Te
eaten,

theybeoome
mortal.

be the Cownseyl Of the moste dedly Enemy,

wheche was the devel, ful Sekerly,

that Envie hadde to Mankynde Anon

For he In paradis was So I-don. 8

Thanne bethowhte him the devel In haste
how he myhte hem of paradis Owt Caste,
that dide he Al hys fowl konnenge,
Adam & Eve Owt of paradis to bringe, 12

And fondede to Eve there forto gon,
To Maken here to Eten of that tre Anon
which sche was forboden Ouer all' thing
Only of that tre the Neygheng, 16

Wheche sche was forboden of hire Creatotire,
that tre forto Neyghen In non Oure.
to wheche tre the devel hire tempted faste,
tyl that Eve A branch kawhte Atte laste, 20

and there-Offen An Apelle Anon sche took,
and there-Ourae sche gan fnl faste to look ]
thanne there OSen sche bot anon,
and faste to hire spowse ward sche gan to gon, 24

and Conceilled him there-Offen to Ete,
& that for non thing he scholde it lete.
So Adam Ete that Appel Anon,

To his grete peyne, and Owre distroccioun. 28

Whanne Eve had him taken this appel, I vndirstond,
jit lefte' the brau7/ch Stille In hire bond ;
but it was Ajens hire knowenge
that the braunch In hire bond was Abydinge. 32

thanne whanne they hadden Eten of this tre —
Wheche dedly froyt wel clepid May be,
For there thorwgh dedlich becam he tho,
and alle t}»at Euere Aftir from him gonnen go ; — 36

» MS Onerih

* Si aaint vne chose ke li rainsiaiu remest en la main ea
feme. Si oom il auieot asses souuent ke on tient aucune ohoaa
en sa main, et si n'i quide on riens tenir. — A.

GH. XXIX.] god's GUBSE OF ADAM AND EVE FOB DISOBEDIENCE. 369

thanne knew they wel that Naked they were ;

to-fom hem thowhte Spirit\yel In AUe Manere, uid know that

For they weren formed to Everelasting lif ;

but that fowle Synne browhte vs Alle In Strif. 40

And whanne hem Self they gonue beholde^
Aschamed they weren ful Many folde ;
For Al Naked knewen they pat they were,
And Aschamed Ech Of Oher Membres was there : 44 Th«3r oov»r their

' prtvy memberi

& with here hondis they koue^ided hem tho; with thtir hands.

So dyde there Eve thanne Also,

And the brau/zch Euere stille In hire hond,

but that Cowde sche not tho vndirstond. 48

Thanne he whiche Alle thowhtes doth knowe^ Th«i ood

To hem Cam there In A throwe,
and knew here Synweng Everydel,
Wheche was to hem A sory Mel. 62

There ferst Adam he gan to Calle^ «"■ ^dam,

that him thowhte most Eesoun of Alle^
that Ferst Chalanged that he were,
thanne the wom^min In Ony Manere ; 56

For the womTTian is of so feble Complcxioun
that of Mannes Eib was mad, As Axeth Eesoun,
and that Obeischawnt scholde be to Man ;
Wherfore Ciist ferst clepid Adam than. 60

And whanne god hadde Reproved him of his synne, wpiwM him,
thanne to him he seide, & nolde not blynne,
" thy bred In Swetyng shalt thow Ete : andiayi Im shaU

•^ '' ^ get his living »v

thy liflode vritk travaille shalt thou gete ; 64 work and sweat.

And for thi wif In feleschcpe witJi the was tho,

With the, compenie to be, schal she go ; "

and Seide to hire, " that In Sorwe & cret drede Christ teiu Eve

° she shall bear

hire lif in Erthe Scholde sche lede, 68 children with

A great pain.

And In gret peyne to beren hire pariture ;'

' Et il estoit bien raisons ke il en fust plus ooooiBOuneus
que la feme. — A.

* et en doulour enfanteras ta porteure. — A.
GRAAL. 2 i

870 Bm PLAITTB THE BaANOH OF THB TRBS OF LITE. [cH. XXUL

orPwadiM,

XTtholdlnfftha
brandi of th%
TrMofU*,

which la u
as wh«ii It waa
flnt polld UL

Xra than planta
this bmncb;

and it takfa root
andgrowa.

Of this £ve thow achalt ben Seure."

thaniie Owt of paradjn weren thej bothe C-Mte,
And be An Aui^gel owt dreyen Atta lasie, 72

Wheche is clopid ' paradya of delyt,'
there-offen weren they sone bothe qwjft ;
And Evere, As ^t I rndintondy
held stille Ere ^ biaonch In hire bond, 76

and ae left it neu^re for non thing ;
And )it waa it not be hir« wetjng.

thanne Atte laste ache gan beholde
Vppon this Biannch ful Manifolde, 80

and Evere lich Greue it was,
Aa fent sche it polde Owt of y plaa.
Anon wiste sche thanne certeinly
that they hadden Synned tho dedly, 84

and that it was cawse of here disheritaunce ;
Wherfore that braunch kept sche In remembrauncey
and that she wolde it putten In swieh A plase
Often tymes to sen it, In hir^ fase, 88

there^ffen forto haven ful Bemembryng
that sche was Cause of here disherytyng.

thanne bethowhte sche bird on this Manure,
that nothing had sche to putten it In there, 92

Nethir huchche ne non Oper thing,
For that tyme was non swieh In Makyng ;
So thamie this braunch took sche Anon Byhte,
And there In the Erthe Anon sche it pyhte. 96

thanne seide sche ' ^t often scholde sche it sen,
For In hir« face Ay scholde it ben.'

And whanne this Braunch In the Erthe don waa,
Anon it wax, & Boted be goddis gras. 100

This brawnch that Ere the ferste Synnere
Owt of paradys browht with here there,
Signefied ful Mochel gladnesse

In tyme Conieng, And Ek lyhtnesse. 104

And ^it al this tyme was Eve

GH. ZXIX.] THE BRANCH GROWS INTO A GREAT TREE. 371

A Clene Maide, As this storie doth preve ; £▼• u » Tirgia

And thanne sche seide ** dismaie 30W nouht ;

for they out of Ourd Eritage we ben browht, 108

3it for Evere han we it not lost,

but therto A3en Eestoren we mosf

And ^if ^e welen E[n]qweren of thii? storie
What the Cause was, & the Skele ' whye 112

that Man the Braunche Owt of paradb not bar.
As wel as the womman dide tho thar,
Sethen that man is Of heighere degre
than is the Woman ful Sekerle •/ 116

To this answerith this Storye,
and seith ^ that to ^* Man It ' belongeth not trewlye,
but Al only to the womman Her bringing tiw

that Owt of paradis brouht it than : 120 Paradise,

It siimefieth that b* womrmin Owt it browhte, »«>» ^i>«t the

^ ^ ' world shall be

that be womr/uui the world was brouht to nowhte ; restored by

T> i 1 1 • 1 * woman,

and be A womman Eestored schal it be ;

wheche signefiet be p* blessed virgine Maree.*^ 124 thevtiginMafy.

Lo Now tometh the Storye here ful pleyn Deaf sq

to groweng of this braunch Anon here ageyn ;
and how it Molteplyed So hugely

that a gret tre it wax trewly, 128 The branch grows

and gan to brawnchen & schadwen ful fere ;
and this was with-Inne riht fewe ^ere.
bothe brauTiches, leves, and bark, as I telle ^ow, with wute baric,

leaTei^ Ao.,

Was Also whit As ony snow ;-^ 132

Whiche that signefyeth virgenite,

that this vertu hath ful Sekerle,

a man72es body it kepeth Clene,

and the sowle whit al be-dene. 136

For In as moche as that y tre whit was,

It signefieth virginite in that plas ; aignitying

Vlrginitj*
* ke 11 portcn de ohe raim n'apartenoit de noient a

home. — A,

' End of a chapter in the English MS. The French

runs on.

372 OF MAIDENHOOD OF BODT, AND VIBOINITT OF SPIRIT. [CH. XXiX.

Kt« WM a Ttrftn For Tirgine ache was wbAmie sche it sette ;
tiMTrMoTUfe. thus Hecordeth the Storye with-Owten letto; 140

for ^it At that tyme clene virgine sche was

from Alle thowhtes of lecherie In that plas.
Maidenhood but Maydenhod and vii^inite

Ke ben not bothe In on degre ; 144

but gret delTerense betwene hem Is,

as je scholen heren with-Owten Mis.

For Maydenhod In non degre
Yiifinity Kia not lik to virginite ; 148

and I schal jow telle the Resown why ;
in being bodily For Maydenhod ia In tliis maner trewly,

that felte neuere man fleschly,
or freedom ihmi ne^ In weye of lecherie lay hire by.^ 152

but Yirginite is An heighore thing,
whereMVirRinity And More vertwos to thin vndirstondyng :

belonft to boCb

For bothe Man & Womman that virginea be,

thoeewho'To Ne thowhto neuere Amy a In non degre 156

never thought of *•*,.,,

leobeiy. of Bodily luat to ony luxure :

this is virginite bothe good & pure.

and thus was Eve In Clene virginite
Whanne Owt Of paradia Cast was sche ; 160

and ^it the same Our ache plaunted thia brau//ch,
Virginite wtt/i-Inne here waa ful ataunch.

Christ bids Adam but Aftir Criat Comanded to Adam Anon

•know' hie wifo.

that ' to his wif there acholde he gon, 1 64

and here to knowen there fleaclily,

Aa Man And Womman Scholde trewely ' ;

thanne loate ache Anon virginite

thorw deaireng of luat, aekerle. 163

Ha dote m^ and and whanne Adam & Eve thua hadden I-do,

and fleachly to-Gederia knewen they tho,
tiMjmoaTii under thenne Maden they botbe fid Mochel Mornenge

* Puchelages eat vne Tirtiu ki tout chil et toutes ohelea oat
en au8, qui onquea n'orent oompaignie ne atouchement de car-
nell© luxure. — A.

OH. XXIX.] THE TREE IS OALLO 'THE TBEE OF UFE.'

373

Vndir this tre, bothe leinentacion & wepinge. 172

and whanne that Adam In his herte gan devise

his Exyleug Owt of paradise,

Fill hevy Chere Ech other gan to Make,

And Echo was Sory for Otheris Sake. 176

thanne Seide Eve to Adam tho,

'* Sir6, ne me7'veille ^e not so gretly so ;

For non wondir it nys In non Manere

thowh Owre trespas [we] Remembren here ; 180

For ther may no?* Abiden vndir this tre —

thowh glad & Joyful that he be, —

but ^if In Moroneng he parte Away ; —

Sire, it were wondir, I jow Say ; — 184

For the tre of deth this May wel be,

as Myn herte Kemembreth now me,

whiche tre that we resten vndir,

Vs Maketh so hevy, it nis now wondire." 188

Anon As sche hadde this word I-spoke,

Abowtes hem faste they gonne to loke ;

A vois than herden they with here Ere,

That In this Manere to hem Seide there ; 192

" Sey, 3e Caytives, why demen ^e so

Ech Otheris deth, as 30 now do 1

Ne deme ^e no more in swich degre

Of disperaunce, I wame jow Certeinle ; 196

but Comforte 30W In All wise

Ech ofer, As 30 best Connen devise ;

For the lif Is to 30W moche Nerre lustly

thanne Ony deth Certeinly." 200

Thus Spak the vois to hem riht tho ;

thanne mochel Comfort they token hem to.
thanne Aftirward Clepid they that tre

* the tre of lyf;' ful Sikerle ; 204

For the goode Comforte pat })6;'e-ondir hadden they there,

'the tre of lif * they clepid it Every where.

and for the loye they liadden of this tre,

th« Tree ofLfib.

Adam and Et«
grieve under the
Tn§,

She Mye It mejr
be calld the Tree
of Death.

AToloebidathem

eomfoft one
anolher.

tCK Life le miMdi
nearer them than
Death.

They call the
tree *The Tree
of Life/

374

ADAM IS BIDDEN TO 'KNOW' HIS WI7B SYB.

[cn.

ThtjrpUat
bmnehMoftlM
Tree of Lift,

whidi takt rool.

Adam and Mm,

ontFridaj,

«ra rMtlng oodar
thaTraa,

and a Tdeo Udii
Adam knovr
hit wffa.

Th^'ra both

aahamodtodo

ItUiara.

80 Jaaoi pttlaa

'em.

Many biawnches they plaontid pemoSexi jSekerlje ;

and As sone As it was Set In the grownde, 209

bothe it took & Boted with-Inne A stownde ;

and In Alle degre it kepte the Colowr,

As it was the wyl Of Ouie Savyowr. 212

than^ often tjmes it be-happed So,
that yndir theke tre gonnen they go,
hem forto Eesten fnl often Sithe,
whiche Mad hem bothe glad Ss blythe. 216

So that it happid vppon a day,
that Adam with Eve wttA-Owten delay
Seten to-gedens bothe tweyne, —
thus fia holy Stone Beporteth Certeiney 220

that yppon A fiyday it happede so
that yndir theke tre bothe gonnen they go, —
and longe there gonne they hem Beste
til A Tois there Cam fat Sowned be Este, 224

Whiche vols Seide to hem verraily,
' that Adam his wif Scholde knowen fleschly.'

thanne So Achamed bothe they were,
Swich Manere of thing forto don there, 228

that Nethir of hem On Othir dorst loke
that dede to don, so seith this boke ;
For as sore Aschamed p* Man was there
As the womman In Alle Manere, 232

For they Kesten thanne In non degre
how here Lordis Comaundement sckapen scholden hee ;
and for be encheson of p* ferst trespas,
they dradden hem of here lordis Gras ; 236

and so Bewfully £ch on Oper loked than
For gret schame, bothe man & womman.

thanne beheld lesus, Owre worthy lord,
here Schamefullest* & drede be here Owun Acord, 240
that Gk)d In hem Anon hadde gret pite
For here Schamfastnesse In that degre ;

> MS that * For * Schamiutnesae,* aee 1. 242.

CH. XXIX.] ABBL IS BXOOTTEN UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE.

375

And, for his wille distorbeled ne scbold not h&^

For hem he disposede ful worthile, 244

that be hem two the Ijgne of Man

the tenthe Ord^r of Awngelis Eestore schdde than^

that Owt of hevene weien Cast Adown

for pride Into belle, that lowe doniown. 248

And therfore A3ens heie schame Comfort he^ sent

to hem bothe there Anon presente ;

and, Al here Schame-fastnesse forto hyde,

In Man^r of A Kyht God sent hem that tjde, 252

that So Mirk it was with hem there

that non myhte Other sen In non Manere.

thanne Abasehed weren they wondir Sore
how ^t so sodeinly that dirknesse Cam thore. 256
thus sone the ton the tother gan to Callen tho,
and to-Gyderis they felten thanne bothe two
there with-Owten sighte Of Ony day,
thus to-gederis knewen they with<Pir\en delay. 260
For it behoveth that Alle thing^ be do
Aftir goddis wille ; he wele ])at it be So ;
and that tyme Ech Other fleschly gan to knowe,
Only goddys Comandement forto Avowe ; 264

8o that there, thorwh here Comownenge,
Seed forth browhte to here Sy»nes Aleggynge.
For there thoruhfi hem bothe was eoneeyved than
Whiche that me Clepid Abel, that Bihtwis man, 268
and the ferste man that to his god dide worthy Seirvis«|
him to worsebepen & plesen In Alle wyse^
In this Mauere waa Abel Tnder the tre of lyf
be-geten of Adam, Conoeyved of hia wif ; 272

Wheche was don vppon a fryday,
As this StcuTe thus doth here Say.

thanne theis behelden they botfae Anon
that thus sone this dirknesse was gon ; 276

thanne knewen they wel ful yerraylly,

* MS be

andarrangw
that th«7 Bhall
nstor* the 10th
Legion of Angels.

He alao eende
darkDoaa to hUIe
their ■heme.

Under Ite cover
they copulate

Md beget Abd

nnder the Tree
oTLIfiB.

Tlie darkneee
thengoee.

376 THB WHITE TREB OF LIFE TURNS GREEN, AND FRUITS. [cH. XXIX.

After the
copulation,

the Tre« of Lift

ftnd ftll Ita tekms

turn ftrnin whiU
togrmi,

and bear flowers
And fhilt.

that God it d jde ful specjaly

Forto hyden here Schome-fastnease,

Where-thorwgh they weren bothe In distresse. 280

and Anon A gret MeTreille to hem ^ere was,
that God there schewede In that plas ;
For As grene be-Cam f • tre In that stede y^
As Evere dyde Gras In ony Mede ; 284

And so didcn Alle that Out of \a\, tre gonne gon,
Afbyr that Adam and Ere so hadden I-don ;
bothen bark, bowh, Ek lef, and tre,
From whit to Grene I-tomed they be. 288

thanne Anon Aftyr Evene Ryht There
This tre flowres & froyt began to here ;
and whiles \a\i Tre & braunches weren white Echon,

■ignifying that

thanne nethir flowres ne froyt ne bar it non ;
but Aitir that it was woxen Grene,
It bar bothe flowres & froyt Alle be-dene.
For the whitnesse of theke tre
Only betokeneth virgin! te ;
but whanne Virginite was Agon,
thanne be-Cam \iA tre Grene Anon ;
Wheche that signefieth Y seed of Manne
that vnder thike tre was Conserved thanne,
Abel was cbaate, that Chast and trewe was to his Creatour,
and In Alle tymes dyde him honour ;
and the froyt of that ti*e doth Signefle
that Evere he was Eeligious Sothfastlye.

Thus Contenued ful longe this Tre there,
So that Evere was grene, & In on Manere,
tyl that Abel was woxen wel of Age,
and to his god did moche Servage ;
And Euere deboneure to his Creatour he was,
3eldenge him that his was In Every plas,
As wel of tithes, As of Offrenge ; *
thus to his god dide he worschepinge ;
and of the best thing that his were.

292

296

300

and rellgtoaa.

304

Abelgnmi,

308

and worshlpe Gk)d
with bis beet.

312

OH. XXIX.] abbl's saorificb is accepted, Cain's refusd. 377

(oGod.

AM't Mierifiot
goMup to
haATen,

but the atinking
■mdie of Caln'i
•proub over th«

he offrede to God In Ech Manere.

but Cayn his brothir ne dide not so ; cun oom

For Evere of his werste took he tho, 316

and to Grod there-Ofifen made his Offring,

Swich as that to Cayn was fowlest thing.

Lo, and God to hym sente As gret plente*

As to his brother Abel ; thus y storie scheweth me.

So whanne they comen bothe In-to the plase 321
that for Sacrefyenge be God Ordeyned was ;
and for to maken there here offrenge,
bothe Cayn & Abel weren thedyr Comenge, 324

lyk as it was be Goddis Comandement
Thedir Comen they bothe verament.

and whanne Abel his Sacrefyse gan to do,
Streyht vp-ward to hevene thanne gan it go ; 328

but Cayines Offreng In that Stede,
the fMrme spred Abowtes al the Mede,
Which was bothe blak, fowl, & stynkkenge ;
thus was the Maner of Cayines Ofirenge. 332

and thike that of abelis ofiring was, *
was Cler & swete smellyng In that plas.

and whauTM Cayin beheld this Manere,
that abelis Offreng Eesceived was so there 336

passinge his In alle degre,
therto gret Envye Anon had he,
and gret wraththe A^ens his brothir took,
that God Abelis Hesceyvede, and his forsook. 340

thanne Cayin bethouhte him sone Anon
In what wyse Abel he myht vengen him on :
thanne to him Self he seide tho,

' that Sekerly his brothir wolde he slo, 344

So best on Abel avenged Myhte he be ; '
thus thowhte Cayin In his Memore.

Thus bar longe Cayin this fowl Envye
to his brothir abel Gyltleslye ; 348

jit perceyved abel neuere Chere ne Contenaunce

things

Cain If angry,

that God noelTi
AM'b nerlfloe
and rvAuta his.

Ho molTa to
ilay Abel.

37S OAIK STABS ABXL UKDKR THI TRU OF LIFB. [CH. XXIX.

that Cayin him thouhte Ony GrreTaxuice.

So longe Cayin helede this hatereda

In his herte, that iike fowle stede, 353

OMdaj, tyl that it happed vppon a day

that Ahel gan to walkeu, as I )ow say ;

For Owt of his fadns Syhte tho

Gan this abel thanne forto go, 356

gem to iiM TrM tyl that he Cam to the tre of lif,

of Life, to hit

■iiMi^ For there wente» his schepe witA-owten strif.

the day gan wexen hot ful faste,

and of the sonne strong heie In haste, 360

So that strong [hete] not suffren myhte he,

but wente to schadwen him vndir that tre ;

So that giet lust Cam him fere vppon,

that Nedis moste be Slepen anon, 364

iiM dovn and so yndir this tie he gan him leye —

as now that me je heren Seye,—
and aiMpt. and to slomberen he gan there Anon.

thanne Gan Cayin forth to gon, 36d

that longe hadde thowht yis felonye :

there abel his brothir he gan aspye.
odn MM Ateu thanne beheld Cayin )Kit selve day

ftiid lOM to Mu Where abel his hrofer vndir y tre lay, 372

and faste bin hyede forto sle,

& wende Aparceyved it schold not ban be.

bat Abel fid vel sawh him comen tho,

& yp him dressed, and A^ens him gan go, — 376

For he him lovede wondirly wel

as it was fere sene Eyeridel ; —
Ahel wtioomM and seide, " welcome, my brother dere,

I am fill glad we ben In fere : ^ 38()

and £yene In this manure of gretyng

spak Abel to Cayin At here Metyng.
Cain stab* iiim Anon this Cayin there to him Ban^

wifch an upcanrd

knift. and A op-Courbed knyf he drowh out than, 384

and vndir the p^pe smot him Anon

r. XZIX.J CAIN KILLS ABSL. HS IS A TTPB OF JUDAS.

Z70

Also fer as the knyf wolde gon.

and thus abel Anon ded was there
Of his vntrewe brothens hond In ^is manere. 388

lo, In the same stede that he Conceyred was
Of his Modir, In that plas
Suffbede he his deth with vnriht,
As was be the Suffraunce of god Almyht. 392

And Evene lik In the same Manere
as on the Fryday he was begeten there,
Lik So vppon a fryday be Cayin was he ded,
as this holy storye Becoidith In this sted. 396

Lo, whanne pat abel sa£&ede deth be trasown,
In Al thys World ne weren but thre men In-yirown I
behold how that the deth of Eihtwas Abel
Is likned to Cristes deth Everydel ! 400

Be Cayin signefyed was Iwdas,
the falsest Tretour that Evere was.
For lik As Capn his brothir gan to heylle.
So dide ludas to Crist Sawn faille ; 404

So that these tweyne dethes Acorden weL
As be fals tresown Everydel ;
and As Abel yppon A fryday was slayn,
So be tresown was lesus In Certayn. 408

So that ludas In alle Manere
To Cayin Is likned Everywhere ;
For ludas hadde non Maner Enchesown
To don his lord to pat distroctiown, 412

For to him myhte he ban non haterede
For Owht that Jesus dyde In Ony dede ;
and for he say neu^re In him but goodnesse,
ther-fore was he ful Of Irfulnesse ; 416

For it is J>* Condisciown Of A cursed Man *^
To haten A good Man, what that he Can.
and Of the tresown ^t Cayin to hia brothir hath do,
Spekith Jesus Crista and of Many Mo, 420

be kyng davy In the Sawter book —

Thai Abel !•
•lain bj Cain

inth*
•ain«plM»
thai fa* »M
eonoeivd in.

and on th« Uka
daj, rrldaj.

Vmtm

Abel's daath
typUlea Christ's ;
and Cain typlflsa
Jodas.

Both Abel and
Christ were slain
on a Friday.

A oimad man 11
always hate a
good one.

380 GOD OUBSBS GAIN FOR SLATING ABEL. [CH. XXIX.

ho that there-after wile theie-Inne look ; —
That A dredful word now speketh there
that thus Seithy and In this Manere, 424

Cain's tuMidMry ' thow purposist, & seist fals felonje

is spoken of In , i i . « . *

Dnvid's Piftims. to thj brothir, & seist al trechorje ;

and to thin Owne Modris sone

Bwich tretories thou dost As is thy wone ; 428

Wherfore I schal the Chastise,

and the pvnschen In hard wise.'

and thus In the Sawter schole 30 it fynde

of dauid his enditenge, kyng good & kynde. 432

thanne oure lord, Cay in gan to Calle

Aftir this dede thus was befalle,
God asks Cain and seide, '* Kayin, where is thy brother Abel,

wlMtv AMis.

that to the trespased neuere A del 1 "* 436

Wlianne that kayin yndirstood Al this,
that he hadde So fowle don Amys,
and that so gret tresoun he hadde I-wrowht,
Anon it tomede than In his thowht, 440

Cain oOTwa Um and kouered Abel with the leves of p* tre

oorpsowlfth

imrm. That Aspyd ne schold not than bo.

thanne Axede him Owre lord Ageyn,

" Cayin, where is thy brothir, sey me pleyn." 444

thanne Kayin Answerid A^en Anone,

" With him have I not for to done ;

For I ne haue hym not In kepinge,
and says, Neb«' of him I ne Can tellen non tydynge." 448

■ I don't know.'

thanne Answerid Oufe lord to hym ful sone,

'' that fowle dede that thow hast done,

and slayn thyn Brothir So falslye,

Afom Me veniauitce his blood doth Crye. 452

God tforsM Cain, therfore Acursed schalt thow be

thorwh-Owt Alle the Erthe ful sikerle,
andtheaarth, and the Erthe, A-corsed I wol it be do,

that thy brotheris blood hath Resceyved so." 456

thus Crist the Erthe Cursed there ;

CH. XXIX.] THE TREE OF LIFE TURNS RED ON ABEL's DEATH. 381

but not the tre In non Manere

Where-vndir that Abel was ded,

he it not Cursede In non sted. 460

but A wondir Merveille of that tie
"Wondirly befel, hos myhte it se :
For Anon As Abel there- vndir was Slajn,
his Grene Colour it torned Anon Certayn,
And becam As Eed as onj blood, /
that same tre, there as it stood,
In remembranse Of hym that ded was there,
holy Abel In swich A Manere. 468

and alle his plawntes that Abowtes him were,
deydeu Anon In Schort Manere ;
but that tre Grew so Merveillously,
that the fayrest tre it be-Cam trewly 472

that Evere man Myhte beholde with Eye ;
So ful of Bewte this tre was Sekerlye,
Ne Neucre chonged ne peyred nowht there
6etheu Abel was ^er-vndir ded. In non Manere, 476
Saufe that flowr ne froyt ne bar it neu^re non
Sethen there-vndir that fowle dede was don.

but tho that of him weren I-set to-fom,
bothe fiowres and froit of hem ben bom ;
and so these Trees gonnen to Multiplye,
and the world Encresid ful plentevouslye,
So alle that of Adam & Eve Comen tho,
To that tre ful Moche Reuerence they do j
and Eche of hem Other doth telle
In what Manere that it befelle,
' That how here ferste Modir it plaw[n]ted there,
and how thedir it cam, & In what Manere ; 488

and they Scholden Bestoren agayn
here ferste Eritage In Certeyn,
Where-Owt here ferste Modir was Cast,
but A^en we scholen it haven Atte laste.' 492

and whanne they wereu In Ony disseise,

After Abel's
death.

464 the Tree of Ufe
tarns tnna green
to red.

and its edoiw too^

but It never mort
beere flower or
fruit.

480 tho' lU idons do.

Adem and Gre's
descendants
484 reverence the
Tree modi.

382 THB TREK OF UFl 18 NOT DAMA0D BT KOAH'S FLOOD, [cfi. XXUL

That Ony thing here hertes dide Mbpleae,
and Anon to pat blessed tre they wente,
here Conceil to taken veramente ; 496

whanite that to theke tie they Comen Anon,
Comforted they weren thanne Everichon ;
TtMj edi It 'Th* and Sethen they Clepeden it * b* tre of Consailtf

TiMofGomiMl 1 r i

andofoomibrt.* And the Tre of Ck>mfoit ' with-Owten faile. 500

This tre Grew & wex ful faste,
and alle that Euere of him Comen Atte laste,
bothe that weren of Y Crene tre,
and Also of the white Certeinle, 504

So that the peple Sore Merveilleden tho
how that they Endured & wozen so ;

Its leiou kMp and Evere kepten they that Same Bewte

UMir bMOty tiU

NcMh'i flood; Tyl that Grod sente the flood of Xoe, 508

Where-thorwgh Alle wikkyd peple than

Weren distroied, As I tellen ^ow kan.

So that on lyve lefte non sikerle

but Noe & his wif & here Compene. 513

For it was Goddis wille tho

that the world distroyed scholde be so,

Sauf only hem that god trewe fond

Afom Alle Othere, I vndirstond ; 516

and be hem the world Bestored Schold be,

that to-fom tyme was lost In swiche degre.
but wete ^e wel for Certeyn,

thowh tho trees to here kynde comen Ageyn, 520

•lUr which tii«f ^it boren they neuere Aftyr so kendly

As to fore tymes they dyden vtterly,
loM (heir mtoot that they ne losten Clene y Savouie
thro' the uttm- Of here ferst froit, & the Odowre, 524

th« worid. thorwh the water that so bitter was,

that ouet'keuered the world In Every plas ;
Bat tho Troo Sauf Only thike Selve tie of ly f

andiubruMhit and Y brau/Aches ]»at ^ere-of comen^ whiche sette
'^'^''■'^ Adams wif, 528

CHAP. JUUL] OW aOLOKON AMD HJfl SHIP. ^^S^

of Bewte, froit^ ne of Colour,

ne weren not Chonged In non Ourfi ; nerw change thdr

fruit or colour.

For witnesseth they that hem Sje —

these trees ful openly to here Eye, — 632

For trees of lif I-cleped they were

of hem that hem Sien In all Manere ;^

For of deth dredden they In non degre

whiles there-offen they hadden In here compene. 636

CHAPTEB XXX.

The Episode of [the Fall, AbeFs death, and] Solomon's build-
ing the Ship, continued. How the Tree of Life continues
till the time of Solomon, who is wonderfully wise (p.
884), but is deceivd by a woman, and, when much
troubld by her, speaks his Book of Parables (p. 885), and
says that not one good woman can be found in the world
(p. 386). One night he declaims against women (p.
386), and a voice reproaches him, and says that a woman
of his race shall bring men to greater joy than Eve lost
(p. 386-7). Solomon thinks that he was a fool to blame
women so, and searches the Scriptures till he knows of the
Virgin Hary and her Son (p. 887). A voice tells him that
this Son shall come of his line, and be a knight passing all
others (p. 888). He is greatly rejoict, though the Son is
not to come for 2,000 years (p. 889). His wife aska him
to tell her what he has been tliinking of (p. 889). He
tells her ; and on the third night she says she can certify
him of the Coming Knight of his line (p. 890). She bids
him send for all the carpenters in his realm, and order
them to make a Ship that will last for 4,000 years, which
she will fit up (p. 890). Solomon sends for the carpen-
ters, and orders them to make the Ship (p. 391). They
say they will do their best, and then they set to work and
finish it in half a year (p. 391). Solomon's Queen then
tells him that he ou^ht to provide a precious piece of
armour for his descendant, namely, King David*s Sword
(p. 392), to which he is to make a point of precious
stones, and then a pomel and a sheath ; and she will
add the hangings (p. 393). Solomon does as his wife
tells him, and makes the point, handle, and sheath (p.
394). He then looks at them, and wishes that no one
but the man the sword was made for may draw it

* par quo! ohil qui che nirent, dfsent, 'que noirement estoit
ohU arbres de nie et son de mort*-* A.

384 OF SOLOMON AND HIS SHIP. [cHAP. yyt

Without repenting for hU deed. A yoice promises him
that it shall be bo (p. 895). He writes letters oo the
scabbard, and makes fine hangings for it ; bat his wife
will not have them, and puts foul and weak hangings
instead (p. 395), which she says a fair maiden Qike her
who will undo Eve's work) will change into glorious onea
(p. 896). A Bed is made in the ship, and the Sword put
at its foot, and David's crown at its head (p. 8%). Sok>-
mon's wife takes carpenters to the Tree of Life and its
seedlings, and orders them to cut off three sprigs, red,
white, and green (p. 397). Blood springs out of the
Tree of Life, and the workmen leave their work, but the
Queen makes them finish it. She puts the Branches on
the Bed (p. 398), and tells Solomon that no one shall see
the Bed unless he thinks of Abel's death (p. 399). Solo-
mon writes a letter to the Elnight of his line who is to
draw the Sword, warning him against the wiles of women.
This he puts into the Ship (p. 399). Then he writes an
account of the building of the Ship, of the Bed, ^indies,
&o., and puts it at the bed's head, under the crown ; and
then launches the Ship (p. 400). His wife tells him to
have his pavilions set up on the sea-shore, that he and she
may stay there and see what becomes of Qxe Ship (p. 401).
This is done, and one night in a dream Solomon sees a man
and angels sprinkle the Ship with water, and say that it is
a type of God's " New House " (p. 402). The man has
a warning written to faithless people not to enter the
Ship (p. 402). Solomon wakes and seeks the man and
angels, but cannot speak or go to them (p. 402). A Totce
tells him that his desire is fulfilld, and the last of his line
shall enter the Ship and get the Sword (p. 403). The men
and angels vanish : Solomon is going on board the Ship,
but the voice warns him, that if he does, he shall perish
(p. 403). He draws back, and looks at the writing on the
Ship, charging no man to enter it who has not faith and
full belief (p. 403-4). Then he orders his men to put the
Ship out to sea, and it is soon carrid out of their sight
(p. 404).

Thus longe durede this ilke tre,

Of Colour, of Savour, and of Bewte,
To Solomon Tyl that Salamon Kegnede than

Aftir king david his fadir, ))at holy Man. 4

Christ lends more To wheche Salamon Only Crist Sente

Manie passing kon^^enges aftir hese Entente ;
wit than man can he scute him more wit & discressiowu In his lyve

understand.

Thanne ony wit of Erthly man cowde discrive ; 8

For of Alle Scienses he was konnenge,
Where-offen the peple hadd merveillynge.

Cfi, XXX.] OF BOLOUOK, HIS WISDOM, AND HIB FARABLBB.

386

For he was konnenge In ^precious stones,

and knew al here vertwes for the nones ; 12

and the strengthe of herbes he knew also,

And what ther-with he myhte wel do.

he knew the Cois of the firiDament,

And of alle the sterres fere-onne, verament, 16

So that there nas neu^re non Erthly man

That non disciessiovn to him ne kan ;

3it ^eu^lieles, be bewte of a womntan

duertaken and discey ved was he than, 20

So that he wrowhte Ajens Goddis wille,

that of Sum tliinges he dide fed Ille.

This womman that with Salamon was,

bo-thowhte hire in Many diners Cas 24

hym to discoyve, and be^ondis him go,

with Alle the deceites sche Gowde do.

Where-ofiFen ful lytel wondir it is ;

Jor there nys non Man that lyveth I-wys 28

that offen Owhten forto MerveiUe,

a^ens A wommans wile with-Owten faille ;

For there sche putteth Ydre Engyn & hire Entent,

that wit of non liveng Man verament 32

Schal hire withstonde of bird Concettyng :

tak kep6 of y ferst womnian that £yere was lyveng.

Whanne Salamon Sawh that in non degre
t'o withstonden hire Engyn It nolde not be — 36

Where-offen he gan to Merveillen Anon,
and wax Right wroth, and forth gan gon— *
thanne Anon his book he spak

that to him was with-Owten lak, 40

Wheche that ' parables' he Calde the Kame,
To him A book of ful gret fame :
'* With this Book I have Sircvit y world Abowte,
that there is non Erthly Man with-Owten dowte 44
that to serchen Abowtes the wocrld In-virown,
Ounethes there-Inne to fynde, be good Besown,

Solomon knows
Um oooneoftbt

but is jot dMoIvd
byawomuu

An4 no woodor,

fortta«ra*fnoman
living can sUnd
•gainst m wouuui's
wilo.

Whsn BolomoB
ht'sbsaton.

bospsakshls
Book of Puabiss,

says ho's ssareht

tlMWOCldt

OBAAL.

26

386.

flOLOMOK'a OPimON ON WOMKN.

[CH.

ftadaotliand
«M good woauHi.

8olonoii( CMM
uiffhi, 9ooMm
hiiDMlf for

botiMrinif ftboat
hU wife's wUe
orercoiiiliig him*

Sv« neT«r toft off
•chemiiig till
■he'd got AdMn
Mid henelf oat
ofPwadiM.

A Tolec nbakM
him, and says

On good womman to bis Suppoemg."

And thus Seide he for A wondir thing, 48

Por he ne Cowde In non Manure
From wyles of his wif to kepen him there;
So that he M^rveilled In ALIe degre
Hiat so Manie iryles In A iromman scholde be^ 52
80 that he gan dispisen hem fol faste^
and of hem [seide] mochel Evel Atte laste^
And of Speritwel ihinges neu^re they Come^
but Of Enmyte Al & some. 56

As yppon A nyht In his bed he lay,
thys to him self he gan to say, —
Ful thowhtful he was & ful Momenge,
that thus to him self he made pleynenge,^ 60

** thow man Cayty( fol of disseise,
why nisse ther non thing that the May plese t
Why Merveillest thow so Moche of wommans wOe,
that the bass distorbled witb-Inne A while, 64

and In Sorwe and Errour bath put the )
Tak An Ensample, and here now se ;
For OuT0 feiste Moder lefte neuere hire Engyn,
For owbt that Adam cowde deyyne, 68

Tyl that owt of Paradis sche was cast,
Thike delitable place thanne atte last,
bothe Into Sorwe and In-to distresse,
From loye, Mirtbe, and gladsomnesse ; 72

So that alle whiche of hire Owt gonnen gon,
In peyne And Sorwe they leven Echon,
and here bred they Eten with swot & peyn.
And In Cayty vete they lyven certeine." 76

And wbanne loiige In this thowht salamon lay,
A Toys to him spak that he herde verray ;
** Why hast thow thus wo^nMan dispised here
In Manie wises & In riht fowl Manerel 80

for thouhtf be wom77ian Cam ferst to Man disseise,
Of here Anothir Schal come, this world to plese,

SOLOMON FINDS OUT THAT THB YIBGIN SHALL SBAB CHRIST. 8^7

and bothe love & mirthe briiii;en mochel more that m woman of

his line sbaU

than Euere Mankynde was grevid before ; 84 bring men mora

and tbuB be woman Amendid schal be, hwt.

that to fore;» tymes to wom77um was put to yelone ;

and this womTTian schal Gomen Of thy kyiide."

' Anon thanne Salamon Cast In his Mynde, 88 soiomon thinks

be was a fool to
that A fool & Vnwis that he WaS^ blame women so;

woniTiien to blamen In Ony plas.

thanne anon he bethowhte him of Sotylte,

and- Sowhte the scriptures In Eche degre, 92

And Also Alle the devyn Secres

that he Cowde fynde In Ony degres ;

and Atte laste so longe he Sowhte

Til to his wit that it was browhte, 96

So that he fond and knew Eiht wel and then he Unds

out the coming

the Gomeng of the viigine Euendel, of the viivin,

and that the Sone of god Almyht Md cfhrtst's Urth

< from her.

Into fat blessed yessel scholde Alyht. 100

And thus that Scripture put him In ^ende
Of that blessid virgine so good & kende,
that the froit fat of hiro Owt scholde gon,
So gret blessednesse with him scholde corner anon, 104
and Mani More double of swetnesse
than9^ be oure ferst Modir cam bittemesse ;

Wherefore the ton, 'Modyr/ Gleped scholde be, -j^.

and the tothir Glepid scholde be the * See.'^ 108

thanne stodyed Salamon from day to day, . He stadies this.

Of this blessed Maiden to knowen more Teziay,
^if that A Modir that Maide scholde be,
and Gomen of his lyne, thus merveilled he. 112

thanne was he glad In Alle Manere nA is giad that «

the Yirgtn Is to '

that of his Awncestris swich A spring scholde come a eomejOranbis .

. line. f

fere,

^ t A mistaken translatioii of the Hebrew word for Maryv
jnakes it " Star of the Sea." It either means ** bittor," like
Marah, or /'The rebel" or <' rebeUion,'* like Miriam.— B.
Davies.

388 THB FORETKLLINO OF OALAHAB's COMIKO. [cH.

And thus longe he thowhte on this thing,
tyl Atte laste on A Nyht, In his Metyng, IIG

To him from An hy Cam the deyyne Answere
A mMngt eooBM Into his Chambroy In bodde as he lay there ;

from bMYQA to

soionoQ, '' Salamon, On thing I telle now the,

that allynges of thy schal eche not be, 120

Ne not fully the £nde of y lignage,

but the £nde of Anothir knyhtes of heiere parage,

tiuu tiM lart of that schal passen of bownte & of lif

his Um shall bt

ft Knight Alle Othere Knyhtes, with-owten strif, 124

that Evere to-fom htm ^it were,

Ofer after hym scholen oomen, ofer griuee^ bere«
who Shan pMs au So mochel schal he hem passen In alle degre v

ottien as tlie sua

dooBthoraoca. AjBse the sono the Mone doth, Sikerle ; 128

For whanne the Mone schineth most briht^
jit passith it, the Sonne, be Many fold lyht ;
lik so this knyht al othere schal pase ;
and as dide loswe In Ony place^ 132

that past alle other In Chevalrye,
^^ So schal fia knyht passen loswe Al ofer sekerley,
and jit loswe was told the beste knyht
that of al y world was, & most of Myht." 136

and whanne he this thor yndirstod,
that of his ligne schold Comen a knyht so good,

Boiomon r^oiooa, Ful Mochel loye was in his herte tho.

And Ajen to his bookis thanne gan he go, 140

And knew wel, & sawh be Tndirstonding,
fat him scholde he not sen, ne Abyden his comenge ;
PMf S41 For it was ful long tyme therto.

Ilk as that his bookes Schewed him tho : 144

■ad wondon that *' Now, Certes, this A wondir thing to me,

this Kaight*! that So long tyme to-forn his perturite
*how I scholde knowen of his birthe,
that to this world Schal bringen bothe loye & Mirthe,
As I haue here In vndirstondyng ; 149

* et qui a cbel tans porteront armes. — A

Urth.

T^

CH. XZX.] BOLOUpN TELLS HI8 WIFB HIS TROUBLES.

389

but )it is to me A fill sttaunge thing,
for horn this day ^it thedir to,
It is two thowsende 3er & mo.**

Fill longe thowhte Solamon of this thing,
Tj\ his wif it Aspyde, Atte last Endyng,
how that he was fallen In his thowht,
Where-offen Comfort fond he Ryht nowht,
So that he was wondirly Evel at Ese,
he NLste non thing that myht him plese ;
thanne hadde his wif gret drede Anon
that som Manure Evel he wolde hire don ;
So that it happed yppon An Niht tho
that In bedde they lyen bothe two ;
and whanne hyre tyme sche sawh forto speke,
thanne to hym sche gan Owt-breke,
And Anon sche gan hym forto Conioure tho,
For alle the loves betwezen hem two,
that he hire would trewly telle
how of his pensifhesse it be-felle.

'and Salamon, that knew passingly wel
Of hire Coniettyng Every del,
Wyste wel that ther Nas non herte levenge
that Cowde So Mochel of Coniettynge,
that, And sche knew of his Menynge,
Anon to the Ende Sche wolde it bnnge ;^
therfore than Anon thouhte Salamon
how that best this Grame myhte Gon,
For Al the Certeinte tellen he Kolde,
What After there Offen Mien scholde.

thanne discouered he his pensifuesse
To his wif, & al his hertes distresse.
Of that he' hadde So longe I-thowht,
To what Ende it scholde be browht.

162

SoIobmh*! wUb

166

160

aaki him la ted

164

168

tetdHMrwIut

172

176

180

So 1m tdU ter an
hiatroablM.

1-^1 Bt salemona, qui le yit plus Boutil en mal et en engien
ke nus horn ne peiut eetre, pensa ke, se ouers morteos pooit
metre oonsel a ohou ke il pensoit, ele en venroit a chief. — A.

' MS be

390

BOLOMON's wife TELIiS UIU TO HAVE A SHIP BUILT. [CH. XXX.

Solomon's wiHi
tclts him what to
do for tha last
Knlfhtofhli
liiM:

■Mdftr

PMltMVi

Ud 'em bafld %
■hip

that'll Uwt 4000

" Certes, Sire," quod his wif tho,
" Of this Mater p Can I not do ; 184

}mi with-Inne schort tyme^ to My sapposinge,
To A good Ende we scholen it brynge."
So it happede that the thiidde Nyht
To-Gederis they weren, as I the plyht, 188

I* Sire/' sche ^eide^ '' I the now certefye
Of this knyht ful Certeinlyey
That schal ben of thy laste lyne ;
To my wit it doth now propyne 192

how that )e acholen knowen the verite
Of Al his Comeng, In Eche degre."
'^ Kow Sothly/' quod Salamon the kyng^
'' this me pleseth Oner alle thing.** 196

. ** Now ful Gladly I wele 30W Schewe
holy myn Entent Tppon A lewe :
Wei faste Sendeth )oui« Messengeres Anon
thorwh-Owt 301110 Eem Eyerichon, 200

And Alle the Carpontens that they mown fynde^
that to 30W they hem bringe In Ony Kynde ;
And whanne they ben Alle to-gederis I-browht^
A Certein thing 30 scholen haoen wiowht ; 204

And Chargeth hem In Alle wise
Trewly to don here Servise,
^ And swich a achipe 30 w forto Ordeyne
Of sweche tre that it may the self sosteyne^ 208

And that of water it maj^ hayen non fexe^
Ke Of non thing In non Maneie,
That it Mow laste four^ thousend 3er,
Where so Euere it go, Ofer far Or ner.^ , 212

And In the mene while this Schipe they make^
To Another purpos I wele me take.
For to Apaiaille Other thinges therto,

1— i qu'il Tons faohent vse nef de tel fast qn'il ne polsBe
poorrir, ae pour iaue ne pour autre ohoee^ deoba JiQ. MSI
anai, — ^A.

CH. zzx.] Solomon's ship, ai fob looo tbabs, is built. S91

SwIcIl As behovetli there-Iime to do, 216

A8 30 scliolen Afterward bothe heren A, knowe
Al myn hoi purpos vppon A rowe."

And Salomon it levede tho fol wel.
And there A^ens spak Keuere Adel ; 220

but Sa£&ede hire wille Al that nyht,
Tyl on the Morwe it was day lyht.

On the Morwe Anon as the day gan Byse, Next day soionum

he Comaunded his Messengeris In Alle wise 224 ten.

Into Every partye forto gon,
Carpenters him to Ibiyngen Anon.
So that with-Inne a fewe dayes

these Messengeris Sowhten Many wayes, 228

and Carponters to the kyng Anon they browhte,
to weten yi£ that with hem he wolde Owhte.

and whanne these Caipenteris weren semblid hmjooum^
Echone,
To hem the kyng Aperede wel sone^ 232

& hem Comanded there riht Anon nnd h« udt 'em

boild % ship Ihetll

' a schip forto maken they Scholde gon.

So Strong, so Myhty, In Alle manere of gyse,

of swich tre As they Cowde devyse, 236

that for water ne Eokkes ne persen scholde

WtVi-Inne ii\j k' jeres,* thus the kyng wolde, Ua^toiriimj^m,

thanne Answered the Carponters Agayn,

* his wille to fulfulle they wolde ben fayn, 240

To alle here powere & to Alle here Myht

they wolden don that Schipe to dyht'

So that to werke they wenten Al In fere, Theyiettowoik^

and baild It in

that the Schipa was Mad wttA-Inne half A ^ere. 244 haifayear.

And whanne it was fulliche I-browhte to An ende,
Thanne that lady to Salamon gan wende,
That thike Schip first dide begynne
thorgh hire qweyntise and hire Jenne ; 248

" Sire," sche seide, ''and it be so As 30 me telle,
that In tyme Comeng swich A Cas be-felle,

392 Solomon's wife bats dayid'b bwobd 'b to oo in thb ship,

and that swich A thing scholde there be.
So worthy A knyht^ and Of so ny degre 252

that In bowunte alle knyhtes scholde passen Echone
As don hemes of y sonne passith liht of the Mone,
And Alle hem that Euere to fom him were,

soionon'i wtft Qher after hym scholen Comen Armes to here. 256
It were bothe my Gownseille & my wit, —
And ^e wolden Owht concentyn to It,
and as be good Resown As thenkith Me,
Sethen this worthy knyht Of joure ligne schal be, —

iovnpanmm* that w som Manere Of precious Armure 261

IWMioaa armoar "^

for hi! (itmndint Whiche IB bothcn passing good & sure,

(So that )ow he may haven In remembraunce,

What so Evere Aftir happe be chaur?ce,) 264

Scholen je Ordeyne & Arayen A^ens his Comefige

Of hym that ^e hauen so gret Merveillynge,

and that the Armure be passings Merveillous In all

degre
As he schal passen Alle Oper knyhtes In dignete.** 268
** Sey,** quod Salamon, " what Armure it schal be ;
and )if it be Coyenable that I may se^
I schal it ordeine thanne Anon Hiht,

to bt pot in the And Into that Schipe it schal be diht." 2 72

thanAe Seide this lady Anon Ageyn,
*' Sire, I schal 30W tellen now In Certein
On Of the Most Sufficiaunt Armure
that I knowe, as I 30W Ensure. 276

the holy temple wheche je han don Mad
In the worschepe of ours lord In this sted.
In wheche temple the beste Armure is on
that Euere On knyht here was I-don ; 280

*1T^*^ ^,-. I^ is the swerd of thy fadir, kyng davy,

th6 sword of hu

fttiMrDftTid, that there-Inne hangeth ful Sekerly ;
For it is On the Bichest thing

That Evere Abowtes heng ony kyng, 284.

the most M&7Teillous that Evere forged was,

CH. XXZ.] AND SOLOMON 's TO MAKB IT A HANDLE AND BHEATH. -Zd?

the Most disgiest' In O117 plas,
the Scharpest & the Moste trenchaond
that Evere Ony Knyht took on hand ; — 288

taketh that, & Maketh Ordenauizce
For that swerd with-owten ony variAance,
And Ordeyneth hothe for hondele & point.
To Setten Every thiAg In his loynt ; 292

And Aftir for the blad 36 ordeynen Also
As 30W thinketh best forto do.
and 3e that han of Alle herbes the knoweng,
and of Alle precyons stones the konnenge, 296

And the kynde of Alle thinges therto
that be-longeth ony konnenge to,
Ordeyneth, for the point, of precious stones,
And that they ben Sotely loyned for y Nones, 300
So that non Erthly Man Aftir this day
In non wise hem departen ne May,
but }at they Supposen In Alle thing
that it Nis but On ston In beenge. 304

and thanne to the pomel Ordeynen 30
As precious A ston & Menreillous As it may be,
That non so vertwos, so m6rveillo[u]s, ne so riche.
Of Alle Other stones be non him liche : 308

and thanne A schethe that 30 ordeyne,
tha menreillous blad forto susteyne.
and whanne Alle this 3e han I-wrowht,
thanne wile I werken As cometh In My thowht^ 312
and Eanges I wele Maken therto,
Sweche As me liketh there-Inne to do."
thanne he that was wisest of Al degre,
And most yertwes In herbis & stones Knew he,^ 316
passing Ony 0^^ Creature
Most Gonnenge he was, I the Ensure, —
Owt of that temple the swerd they browhte,
the wheche kyng davy his fadyr owhte, 320

' ? diegniest^ or dingniest, worthiMt,

and to make ■
wonderftal handto
•ndpotmtoUj

Um point of
pndow ■tODMa

•ad the pomel of
on* marrtUooi

•tOMI

■tooaihfMtli;

but tha hangingi
■ha wiU maka.

Da?id*a awofd ia
brought oat of
thaTfmpla.

394 8oix>]fOK XAnn a shsath vob thb swomd. [ob.

and that they helden as Biche and Ab iroitliy
As Ony tiling fat In y temple was Sekerlj.
soioBM dMin and thanne wro^te he Al Aftir hiie Avya

with prMioui With precious stones of giet delys ; 324

b^p^oMoaij ^u^ Onliche to the pomel An hj
fcrtktpMMi. he pntte but on ston Sekerly,

Whiche of Alle Manere Colowrs it was
that Odj Man Gowde thenken In Ony plas. 328

And thanne Al his hoi Entent
TiMiiiMiiiiikMA the schethe to Maken, he dide Terament^
Where Inne that this swerd schold he ;
Fol Goiionaly his wittes thanfie Cast he. 332

but where offen the schethe ^t he made there,

declaret not ^it this storie here ;

«

For it schal ben non gret Mestiei

the schethe ^it to declaien In non Manors ; 336

bat the pomel Made he so Ryaly

As here vs doth telle this Story.

And whanne this swerd thns gamysched was,
and be his devis wrowht In that plas, 340

patiiiMSiMr« thanne the Swerd Into the Schethe he pytte,

in th* ahwUia

and fol fast be gan to beholden Itte,

bothe the schethe and Ek the swerd ;

Swich anothir nas there In Middlelerd. 344

and whanne he Sawh it Aparaylled So Richely^
In Al the world hym thowhte non So worthy
That for Erthly man Euere was Mad ;
thus In his herie to him Self he seid, S48

and MTi that no " that there nas Neuere non knyht bom

knight eTmr hi '
■Qcfa ft sword
Bftdt flMrhin.

racfaftswOTd In Al this world here be-fom

that for hym swich a Swerd was diht^

Ke non So Riche to non Mannes siht^ 852

ne non so vertwos In Al degre

As that is this swerd, as semeth me."

Thanne of on thing desired he f^ soro,
Of Alle his desir not mochelis More,. 356

OH. xzz.] Solomon's wifb puts hangikos to thu sword..

39^

- ' that Nea«re Man theke sweid scholde dravre,
For lust, for drede, nether for Awe,
but him Eepentyn Scholde Eyht Sore,
Sauf only he that it iras Mad Pore, 360

What Manere of Knyht So Evere it be^
tliat non it draire, but jif it be he.'
thanne to hym Gam A vois mt^-Owten lak^-
the Same vols that to fore tymes to him spak — 364
'* Salamon, Of this that ])oa hast Axed before^
Schal non man it drawe, but hym Bepente sore,
but ^if it be the Samd persone

for irhom this Mater thou hast I-done, 368

and for whom this swerd is dyht ;
It non Man to drawen schal hauen non myht."

And whanne that Salamon herde this,
thanne was his herte In loye & blys ; 372

and Anon let wryten with his hond
dyyers lettres, as I yndiistond ;
and, as this Storye doth deyyse,
he^ let Ordeyne Bawnges In his Gyse, 376

And to the schethe he gan hem Ordeyne
Also Eyaly as he Gowde Certeyne :
but so wolde not his wif

In non wyse be here lyf ; 380

^but so fowls Raunges, & so Spytable, —
that to so Eyal A thing ne weren not able— >
his wif Ordeynede forto do,

that non thing weren Able therto, 384

As fer forth as Salamon Cowde seyne,
Kot An Owr thike swerd to susteyne.*
^ Whati" quod Salamon to his wyf tho,
*^ how thenke je now here forto do, 388

To putten So fowl A thing In AbYcioun

> MShet

'— ' aioB en apoiia vDes si laideo €t si poores oomme de
oannre, et si febles par aunblant ke elea ne peasaent Tespee
BOttstonir. — ^A.

Sdonum detfres
tliAl no oiM •hall
dmwth* Sword

bot tho Knight
it ia mad* for.

ATOlooMtnrM
him that no ouo

Solomon th«n has
lotion written on
tho ShMth, Jko.,

and wants to paC
flno Hangings on

tat Us wlft Insist!
•D patting fool
Hangings to it.

hiswifis.

S96 THS swobd'b voul hanoinqs abb to bb ohakgd. [gh.

liUtUmthal

» daiBMl ihall

To So Biche A thing irtt/i-Owten Comparison t "
" je^ fonothe,*' thanne quod scliey
<< At this tyme it schal non OferwjBe he, 392

Sowf onliche, and it be goddis plesyng,
That so May happen In tyme Comeng,
That A damysele it Chaungen Schal there,
swowi't Aral And Tornen hem Into Anothir Manere, 396

hangliifi Into

tioHowoiiM. So Faire and so Eiche, that wondir schal be
Ony Erthly Man to beholden Certeinle.
and so be this swerd there scholen 30 knowe
the werkys of two wommen wttA-Inne A throwe ; 400
For lik as je don me to vndirstonde
That A Mayden schal comen In to this londe
Forto A-Mendyn Al the grete wronge
That oQTd form Modir dyde A fom ful longe, 404

Byht So schal the Same Maiden Certeynlye
Amendyn In tyme Comeng Al my folye,
the fowle Eaunges that I have the swerd put to^
Fyl Riche & worthy for hem wele sche pere do." 408
Of these wordis thanne hadde Salamon
In his herte gret wondir Anon^
Where sche hadde that wit An discresciown
him forto telleu So straunge A resown. 412

Whanne the Schip« was Mad In this manere,

A woodm B«d !■ And I-Couered, as the Storye telleth here,

mifdt in tlM Shipb

In the Schipe was mad a bed of Tre,

WondirfuUy devised, I telle the ; 41 6

and tiM Sword snA OuMhwert ouer the beddis feet

lay this Ryal swerd, I the be-heet :
while It ttfhei4 And Aboven, vppon the beddes bed,

UmCrownof '^'^

Gold wueh DATid A Crowne of Gold stood In that sted, 420

had won.

that Manie ^eris to-fore his fadir kyng davy
that Crowne hadde werid ful worschepfully ;
wiche Crowne Salamon put In to that plase,
Sethen that knyht neuere non So worthy wase 424
pMftt] As he of whos ligne scholde Comen that mayde,

■t hor wocda.

OH.

•]

Solomon's wife has 8 spinolbs cut.

397

As to fom tymes his Bokys liad hym Sayde ;
And on non Man So wel, bym thowht, leyenge,
Myht ben be-stowed So worthy A thynge. 428

And whanne the lady thus hadde Seyn him do,
*' 3it," sche Seide, " vs behoueth now thinges mo :
For 3it to this Schip there failleth Somthing
That there-Inne Moste ben with-owten faillyng." 432

And these Carponters sche took Anon,
And to the Tre of lyf they gonne to gon,
Tndir wheche tre Abel was Slayn,
As the Storye to fom Eeherseth Certein« 436

thanne Seyde sche to hire lord tho,
'' Sire, to this tre now moot we Go,
And to the Tothir that of hem Come, —
the Cause I schal tellen 30W Al & Some, — 440

Off wheche on Is Eed, Anothir is whit,
The thiydde is grene, A tre of delyt :
Of these take je now springes thre,
Whit, Red, & Grene, lik as they be,* 444

Whiche the bed Scholen Envirown Abowte,
As I schal 30W tellen with-Owten dowte.**

thanne Answerid the Carponteris tho,
' that the Tre of lyf wolden not they gon to, 448

For neuere to fore, as they Cowden yndirstond,
Ke was it persched with Mannes hond.'^
thanne Answerid this qwene Anon,
" but 3if tl\at je my Comandement wil don, 452

)e scholen ben blamed Al In hye,
I-Seye 30W, Seres, now fill Certeynlye."

Thanne they f ulfUden here Comandement

holiche Aftyr the ladyes Entent ; 456

and they dradden hem fill Soryly,

For neuere to fore hadde Man Comeii ther Ny.

' prenes .iij. fuissiaus .i. Vermel .i. blano .1. vert — A

' Et chil disent * qu'il douteroient moult a eniamer Tarbre

de nie, pour clioii ke nus n^auoit este si hardU qui Tenpirast de

riens.'— A

8ol(»noD'f wift

takes carptntort
totlMTrtaof

•ad bids *ein cot
off S brandies,
whits, rsd, and
grssn.

Thsearpsnten
rsftass at first,

batthsndoit,

398 80Loxos% WHS puts tbb a spindubb oh thb usa [ch.

but ful 80ie Abaackt they were» Aite b^gynfienge,
*w*ttwT»itrf For 80 firaeeh blood owt of ^* tze gaa spiTnge, 460

As of A Mannes Aim it hadde be

that hadde ben of smeten Sekede

In bataalley oper In tomementy

Lik Ab it semede to here Entent 464

and thanne weien they Abaacht bo aore^
Ti*«rpmtMv that there-Onne wolden they werken no more.

agmin ntaM to

work, and 80 leften they Alle here werkynge

that they diden Atte the begynnenge^ 468

and Repentyd hem fnl Sore

that they wrouhten after the ladyes lore.

But 8che wolde it soflfren In non wyse

but that 8che wolde haven hire owne Gyae ; 472

find whanne they knewen hire Entente

holichtf they folfOden hiro Comanndemetitb

iratatiMtdoeat And whanne these thre brawnches werefi I-browht

off the S BrsncbM*

To y Schipe, to fuimien the ladyes thowht^ 476

^it ful Sorye they weren therto

here ladyes wille thanne forto do.
Boiomoo'i wub thanne devised the lady how it scholde be

bnaohM on Hit of alle tho Braunches In £che degre, 480

1 In front, On be Fore, the tothir be hynde,

Brd manm, the thiidde 0u6rthwert, As Cam to hire Mynde ;

So that the bed ouer sprad vas there

with these thre trees In this Manere. 484

behold now of this m^rveillous werkynge

What it was thanne to Signefieng !

For it was to a gret Signefyaunce ;

As this Storye schal schewen wttA-owten variaajiee. 488
and toiia bar And whanne sche hadde So I-do,

. Thanne to Salamon gan sche to go^

" Now beholdeth these spyndelis thre

that vppon this bed to fom 30W be ! 492

that no man ihaU Kow herkeueth to me what I schal seye :

over MO thani

these Schal Neuere Man Sen ful Certeinlyo •

OH, XXZ.] SOLOMON WRITSB TO HIS DtSOBSCDAXT KNIGHT.

399

Bat ^if Abelys detk he scLal bayen In Mynde,

That Man that so Jast was, and to God So kynde." 496

And whiles they spoken of this Mateie,

Anon to hem Comen tydynges there,

that tho whiche the Branches hadden Atamed,

Aongeles^ they weien, that weie9» not blamed. 600

Thanne be-thowhte fill Mochel Salamon
Of Manye thinges that he wolde don ;
And 3it to his wif he Seyde Eyht nouht
Of Al that Euere thike tyme he thonht 504

Thanne Anon Salamon be-gan to "wiitey
and with his wittes it gan to Endite,
A lettre In the Schipe forto be set tho.
In what plase he myhte best it do. 508

And this was the be-gynneng of his Besoaft,
As 96 scholen now heren, bothe Al & soun ^ :
" Behold, thou ELnyht, (what I schal Seye ;
Of on thing I warne the Alweye,) 512

That schalt ben Ende of Myn lynage.
As I am Certefyed, and of So worthy Gorage.
Evere be thow war of wommens Engjrne ;
And Also of Many thinges they welen propyne, 516
loko that thow be wis, & kepe the wel,
and of hem be war thou Everey del,
and that thow leye hem In non wise,
For jif thou do^ thou lesist thin Aprise ; 020

Ke JS'enere prowesse ne non Gheyalrye
Schal I the warannten Gerteinlie^
but it tome Beprof to the ;

thits Sente the to Seyne Salamon be Me : 524

Aud 0^ hym Bemembraunce thow took,
Whanne that thow lokist yppon this book.''
^Thys was the begynheng of his writ there,

' ke ehil qui Tarbie de uie aaoient entamo^ estoient auole
[blind]. — A ' for Bom

'—*' Et teu8 1i oommandemenB du brief ke aaleinons eaorUt
poor le ohinaler qui fist tant de cheualerie el xoiaume de logres,

iinlMi he thinks
of Abel's death.

Thecarpenten
tarn blind.

Boloinon writes a
letter to pat in
the Ship,

warning the
Knight (Qalahad)

to beware of
women's wile%

and to think of
Solomon when
he looks on the
letter.

400 SOLOMON 8BN08 HIS SHIP TO SKA. [CH. XXS.

Whiche Salamon wrot In ibis Maneie ; 528

For of logres that worthy Knyht
Whiche that Into this Schip scholde be djht,
sotomoB also Wrot Salamon this q westion Sekerly,

wrote (Ibr OaU-

1m4) and Into the Schipe it putte trewly. 532

And now of Foiein londes scholen ^e here,
As the storye of Sank £yal Beheiseth In diners

manure.'
And After he Wrot the yerite

•11 aboat hia Of his wif there In Alle degte, 536

tha Ship, uia Had, how his wif this Schip6 gan to Ordejrne,

And Al that Kichesse there-Inne put CertejrnOy

bothe the Bed, & spyndelis Also

that overthwert the bed weren I-do, 540

of whiche on was whit, Anothir was Bede,

And the thridde was grene In that stede ;

and alle colowred of here kynde they were,

As^ of the Tres they weren taken Ere. 544

and whanne this writ was thus I-do,

and than imt tha At the beddes hed he leyde it tho ;

letter andar tha

Crown. yndir the Crowne there As it was,

There he it putte In that Same plas. 548

Titan ba aant tha And whanne this Schipe thus was I-dyht.

Ship to aaa. f ^

Into the Sehe it putte Anon Eyht.

thanne to his wif he Seide Anon,
" Lo, dame, now Al this thing [is] don, 552

and Into the Se I have it pyt,
Xeuere weneng more foito Sen it ;
Xe I not neu67'e to knowen of his Comenge,
of theke worthy Knyht fat me Is put In Mynde.** 556
" jis* Certein, Sire," quod his wif thanne
" Som veryfieng Sohole 3e han of that Maniie ;
Charge ^e joure Meyne Anon Eyht

et mist a fin lea auentures qu'el roiaume de la terre foraine et
en maint autre lieu auenoient par rauentore et par la forche
del saint gna], si com li oontes deuisera oha auaat. — ^A,
> MS As As * MS3if

CH. XXX.J ANGELS SPRINKLE SOLOMON's SHIP WITH WATER.

401

That 3owre pavylowns beu Eedy dyht,
And be the se Syde that 30 don hem Sette,
And for non thyng that 30 ne lette
That 36 And I and somme of oure Meyne
With-Inne the tentes to-gideres Mown be,
And there to Abyden and to dwelle,
To seen what this Schipe may be-falle."

Thanne this Salamon Anon Eyht
Comanded his pavilowns to ben dyht,
And to ben Set faste^ vppon the Se Syde,
with-Inne wheche he myhte abyde,
his wif, & with hem A prevy Meyne :
thus he Comanded that It scholde be.
And anon his comandement was I-do,
that he and his wif to-gederis Also
there-Inne Slepten Every Nyht,
and with hem here Meyne ful ryht.

So vppon A tyme As there-Inne they lay,
As this Storye here doth Say,
As it be-happede Abowtes Mydnyht,
In his Sleep he Sawh a wondir siht :
that there Cam from the hevene An hy
A man, & of Au/zgeles A gret Company
that certein Instrwmewtis wtt^ hem browhte ;
but what Maner they weren, he knew hem nowhte,
Ne he ne wiste In non maner degre
What Man it was that In that Compeyne
that with the Angelis Cam down there,
he ne Cowde him knowen In non Manere.
And AUe Into the Schipd they descendid Anon,
Ech After Oper there-Inne Gan gon ;
thanne to the water gonne they Reche,
And ther-with dyden as I schal the teche :
and Into that schip it Cast Abowte
Into alia parties, with-Owten dowte,

1 MSfoste

GRAAL. 26

560 Solomon*! wife
bids him have
hie tenta pitchy

564

to see what'U
become of hla
Ship.

568

572

576

580

584

588

592

Tlie tenU u«

pitcht,

and he and hit

wiib»leepla

them.

One night

Solomon sees a
man with a com-
pany of Anfieb

oone down from
hearen into his
Ship,

cast water aU
over it,

402

SOLOMON OAN't SPEAK TO THE AKGELS OK HIS SHIP. [CH. ZXX.

and »^ tlM Ship
toatjrpeofOod't

▲n Anfil wrItM
kttara

isrUdding lUth-
laM mm to Miltr
tUShlp.

SolomoB iralci%

•ndSMSttM

Angels and the old
Xmi In hit Bblp^

bat has no power
to ipeak to them.

8oyeng there In this Manere

To his Aviciown, as he mjhte here : 596

" This Schipe is the Signefiaunce

Of Mjn News hows Trith-Owten variaunce."

and thanne this old Man gan forth to gon
to the bordis of y forscbipa there Anon, 600

And bad on of his Compenj to write
Sweche lettres as he wolde Endyte.^
And whanne these lettres wereu I-wrete,
thus gonne they scin, And thow wilt wete : 004

" a passing fool thanne schal he be
that this comaundement passeth In ony degre.**

this beheld Salamon In his Aviciown,
What this Comaundement spak Al & Som ; 60S

and ferto it was so worthily I-wreten & dyht»
8o that there Cowde non Erthely wyht
discryve the bewte of that Scripture
that so wondirful was, I the Ensure. 612

And al swich wondir he hadde In his Slepinge,
So that atte laste he barst In wakynge,
And there his Eyen he Openode Anon,
And to-wardis the schip he lokede ful son ; 616

And there Openly Sawh he than
the Same Compenye with the olde Man
that In his Sleep he Sawh to fore ;
Alle thike hole Compenye him thowhte thore, 620

thanne to hem wolde he han Spoken tho,
but non power hadde he therto ;
he wold han Clepid hem In his Gyse ;
but power hadde he non forto Bise. 624

thanne wolde he han Clepid hem pat to-fore him lay,
but therto power hadde he non be no way,
For he ne myht nethir Meve ne Speke,
Ne with On word ne Myhte Owt breke. 628

thanne thowhte him that a voys Seide tho,

* MS endyde.

en, XXZ.] SOLOMON IS WABND NOT TO BNTER HIS SHIP. 403

" Salamon, thy desir is fulfyld and do ; An Angei uiis

For the Knyht that the Ende of thy lyne schal be, ia»t Knight of hu

In. to this Schip schal Entren ful Sekerle, 632 wlVhip, *°

And this swerd schal he have In honde and bare hu

that povL hast Aparailled ; this thow yndirstonde.

and here-offen schalt pou. knowen the veritey

that non schal Entren, but ^if it be he/' 636

And thanne After this word anon,
Owi [of] this Schip this Compenye gan gon. The Ang«b

vanish.

that Salamon ne wiste witterlie

Where they becomen tho Serteynlye. 640

and whanTie he hadde power forto speke,

thanne to his Meyne he gan to reke,

And to the Schipe he Cam Anon soiomon wants to

go on board hia

Also faste As he Cowde gon. 644 ship,

and whanne the Schipe he wolde han Entred ther,

A voys to hym Seyde In this Maner,

'^ Salamon, I the Hede that thow wiiJi-dmw^ bat u wand by t

and that thou werke Af tyr my Sawe ; 648 ^^ **

for jif thou Into the Schipe Entre otterly.

Thou schalt ben persched Sothfastly.^ bauudif he

but loke the Schipe that thow lete go,

To Swich place As it is ordeyned to, 652

And where that fortune so wele it bringe ;

Eorto manie strounge Contres is his goynge^

wheche that hens ful longe they ben.

As In tyme Comenge Oj?er Men scholen sen." 656

Thanne there Salamon with-drowh him Anon, Sohtgoaeb«dE.

And from that Schip faste gan to gon,'
And beheld the lettres wretew vppon the bord,
that In this Maner they speken Every word : 660

^ Thow Man that Entren wilt with-Inne Me,
be war that ful of Feyth that thow be ;
For In Me is, if non thing ElliA,

' Se tu entres dedens, tu periras. — A.
* et sacbes ke ele sera encore veue et pres et Icing. — A.

404

SOLOMONS SHIP IS SENT OUT TO SEA.

[CH.

Ho one It to
enter Sdomon's
Ship unlet* he
hju fliiUi without
wavering.

but only feith, (As the Stoiye tellis,) 664

and Riht-ful Creaa»ce, as I telle the.

feriore be war, hoso entre wit/j-Inne Me,

that he have bothe feith & Creaunce

stedfastlj, with-owten variauwce. 668

and ^if thow blenche from ony of tho,

be war, from the than Schal I go,

And the forsaken In alle degre,

And Ncthir Sustenau/ice ne helpe getest pon non of me ;

In what place that so Evere jbhou be, 673

Sodeynly schal I forsaken the."

and whanne Salamon Eadde this Scripture,
at that Schip myht he no7i lengere Endure, 676

and Seyde * that to Entren, he nas not worthy,.
Into non Swich place Serteinly.'
Solomon's Ship It than/ze Comau»ded he his Men Anon

Forth Into the Se that Schipe to don, 680

So that it paste ful fen-e from hem y

that Owt of here Syhte it gan to go,

that Kethir Salamon ne his wyf

Non lengere it Syen, with-Owtew strif, 684

Kow leveth this stone here anon.
And to Nasciens now let vs gon,
that longe hathe ben In Tornaunt Tl,
As thowh it were in Maner of an ExyL 688

•ndioon telli
out of light.

The etoij torat
to

CHAPTER XXXL

NasoieuB^s aocount of his Adventures is resumd. How Naaciens
can not make out how the Three Spindles are oolonrd (p.
405) ; and says that it is by trick (p. 406) ; whereat the
Ship splits in two, and he is nearly drownd. But he
reaches the isle of his exile (p. 406), sees the letters on the
Ship, and prays to Grod to forgive Uim his sin (p. 407) ;
then he lies down on the ground and goes to sleep.
In the morning he wakes (p. 407), and prays to God to
proteot hira from his enemy (p. 408). He looks to the
east, and sees a vessel with an old man in it, which oomea

OH. XXXI.] OF NASOIBNS, AND SOLOMON'S SHIP

405

within two lanoe-lengths of the isle, but no nearer (p. 409).
The vessel is richly ornamented (p. 409). Nasciens salutes
the old man in it, who tells him that Calafere is dead
(p. 410). Nasciens at first doubts this, but, being re-
bukd, believes the man, and asks the meaning of the
Ship and the writing on it (p. 411). The old man ex*
plains that the Ship typifies Holy Church (p. 412), and
the Writings forbid men to enter it unless they are cleansd
from sin by confession of mouth and repentance of heart
(p. 413). Therefore men must found themselves on Christ
(p. 413) ; and Holy Church is here for their sustenance,
and keeps them from deadly sin, purifying them like
gold seven times refind (p. 414). Next, of the Bed ; it
means the Sacramental Table, Hhe Cros that Crist was
on crucified in Ivrie londe,* 1. 830, the place where he
likd to rest (p. 414). Further, as to the Spindles : the
white one means the Virginity of Christ and his mother
(p. 415) ; the red one, the Charity or Love of Christ, in
giving the greatest gift, his body, for man's redemption
(p. 41G) ; the green Spindle means Patience, which ever
remains in a man's heart (p. 416). And these three Vir-
tues give victory over all enemies (p. 416) ; and were
present with Christ at his death (p. 417). Nasciens now
goes to sleep, and dreams that a serpent attacks him, and
that a little worm kills it (p. 417-18). He awakes in
wonder (p. 418).

Now schewith fortli this Storye
[How] that Nasciens ful Sekerlye
[Behjeld tho spyndelis that on y bed lye,
[And] tho thre Tres ful Sekerlye
that Colowred weren of here Owne kynde,
where-Oifen he Merveilled Sore In his Mynde ;
With wheche Bransches the Bed was spred
bothe Enlonges And Oue?-thwert, as it is Seid,

And Evere this Nasciens beheld hem faste,
And MerveiUed In his Mynde Atte laste
Whethir of the[r] Owne kynde it scholde be,
Oper depeynted with Colours ful Sekerle ;
Ne stedfastliche he ne cowdo not beleve,
Ne with Alle his wyttes ne Cowde not preve,
how that So I-Colowred they were,
Oper I-peynted In Othir Manere.

thanne Anon A word to hym Self gan he say,
Whiche Sore him Repentyd that same day,

KMclaii looks
at tho eoloord
4 8pind]«»

8

aod woDdera
whether their
12 ooloar is their
own, or peiirteJi

16

406

THB SHIP aPUTS. KA8CIEN8 8WIHS TO SHORE. [cH. tttt

Nttdeut UiMi
■aja he thlnka
UmBwIUiumU

bj tmdiMy and

At one* the Ship
•putt In two^

and he frIU into
thei

Hanriinatothe
maiidf

the writlnn
in th« Ship, that
Faith only la
In it.

and PBproTea
hliDMit i<r bla
wantofbeUei;;!

" be my trowthe," q?/wl Xascieiis the ful pleyn,

'' Of this bed I not what I schal Seyn, £0

For I ne Can not demyn In My Memorye

hut that this bed is Mad Al be trechorye,

And be falsnesse, and be Engyn,

thus thowhte me tho In herte Myn." 24

And Anon As he hadde Seide this weid,
he gan to beholde vppon the Schippes bord,
and Sawh how that It Clef A-two,
So that Into the Se thanne fyl he tho, 28

And there Anon I-dreynt was he fol Ny,
Ke hadde goddis helpe han ben Sekerly.

And whanne In the water thus was he,
Sore Abascht he was ful sekerle ; 32

For he Niste whcthir he slepe oJ>er wook,
So Sodeynly the watir him took,
and thus Sone he loked him Abowte,
And Sauf Of the Schipc that he was O'wte, 36

Beholdynge to-wardis the yl Anon ;
Thedirward ful faste he swam ful son,
tyl Atte laste he Recouerede this yl
Where that he ferst was In ExiL 40

And whanne the yl Eecouered he hadde,
Byht ful gret loye thanne he Made,
And loked Afbyr this Schip Anon,
And Aftyr tho lettres Everychon 44

that Seiden In this Manere vtterlye,
* In Me Kis but Only feith Certeinlye.*

And whanne he beheld this Scripture so,
he wiste wel In Synne he was fallen tho 48

be Miscreauwce & Miabeleve.
J>e?^ore Anon to him Self he gan to Eepreve,
And thus to him Self he gan to Sejm,
" Ow thou Man of litel beleve In Certein, 62

Why were thow Se Ethe for to tomen here,
And of !Mi»Lelcve to ben On this ^lanere.

OH. XXXI.] yAsciiys prats for vonovm^rtas.

m

Of that Schipe that thow were Inue,

O fals belevew, why wost pou from it twynne % 66

Why Art thou Of Misbeleve & Miscreaunce,

Sethen god the hath Schewed be Many chau7?ce^

And be Many Merveilles lu that Schipe Also :

A ! fals Cristen Creature, why wost pou so do t " 60

Thanne there to god Ciyde he Mercye
With Soiye herte & weping Eye,
'That God wolde for-3even his Misdede,
And Evere him to Socoure In his ^N'ede ; 6i

And that wroth with him he wolde not be,
but on hym to haven Mercy & pite ;
And that for his newe Miscreance,
God On him scholde schewe non yeniaunce.' 68

And thus yppon the yl stood Nasciens there
Al the live long day In this Manere.

And whanne to the Eveward it gan to drawe^
And the lyht with-drawe», as be Old Sawe, 72

And that the Son/ze haddo lost his lyht,
It wax to dymmen & to becomen to Nyht;-
thanne Made Nasciens his prey ere
With good herte & In devout Manere ; 76

and whanne he hadde So I-do,
down he hym leyde Anon Ryht the ;
And there he Slepte Al that Nyht
Tyl On the Morwew it was day lyht. 80

vppon the morwe, whanne it was day,
and that the Sonne it Schewede verray,
thanne Nasciens his Eyen Opened Anon,
And Abowtes hym he gan loken ful son, 8i

And Into the See he lokede ful Stedfastlye,
Aftyr that Schip« there ful witterlye
that he hadde seyn the day to fore,
^if Owht thanne he Myht sen it there ; 88

but Nethir Fer Nethir Nye
he Cowde it non sen Certeinlye.

Nasdms pnyi to
God to forglv«
his misdeed.

At nighfcfaU h«
prajs again.

Ktxt morning

he can see
nothing of the
Ship.

408 HAflOIGKS PRATS TO CHBI8T iOB SUPPORT. [CH. ZXXL

and wlianne that he Sawhe it wold not be
that he ne myht it sen In non parte, 92

thanne wondirly Sore Abaschet he was,
So pat he left ype his bond In that plas,
and On hym he Made the Signe of the Cio\s,
thus Cryeng to god with Milde voys : 96

HMdMM pnya " Now, Jesu Crist, for thy grete pite,

■gmta to Chiiat

and for thy Mercy that is so large & fie,
that Me^Owt of Calaferis danngere
Into this place hast Browht me here, 100

Wheche that was My Moste Enemy
that Evere jit hadde ich here worldly ;
and Sethen, lord, that thou hast don so,
tokMp him from From alle Ober Enemyes kepe me now fro, 104

•11 hUeiMn&lMt

that me AsaHleth Every day,

Me to deceyven, jif that he May,

With his False conspuracye ;

Now, goode lord, from him f ou me gye ; 108

And defende me, lord. As A Champiown,

From the wiles of that fals Felown,

That I mot kepen Euere for thy sake
Pdid'tttonw] Thike lowel whiche thou distime^ betake, 112

Whiche is my Sowle, In Eche degre

It to Kepen, lord, power graunt thow Me.

And 3if therto I ne haue neper Strengthe ne powere,
and fopport him, Kow, goode lord, that thow Supporte me here, 116

And that Euere My sowle that thou Kepe^

Whethir that Evere I wake Oper Slepe.

For I Knowe wel In Myn Memorie,

that jif that fals thef Owht me Aspye, 120

3if I Owht be blenched from holy Chirche,

thanne his Maistres On Me wile he wirche,

And Me to strangelyn jif he May,
M h« ti M feebit That ait so feble am In the newe fay ; 124

In tht ntw Faith.

therfore Eu^'J-e, lord, defende thou me,

Tyl More Stedfast that Im beleve there I be."

OH. XXXI.] AN OLD MAN IN A RICH SHIP COMES NEAR NASOISNS. 409

Whiles Nasciens Made thus his preyere,
Eu^re towardes the See loked he there, 128

Evene plat Est, 3if he myhte Aspye
Ony Schipe Owther fer other Nye.
And Atte laste he loked So fere .
Tyl A schip6 him thowhte he sawh comen there^ 132 KaMdensMMa

ihip oomlnic.

And there-Inne A Man of Ryht gret Age, with a very old

ywan in It,

As him Semed be his visage ;

And streith it Cam to that yl

there Nasciens was Inne In Exyl; 136

And So Nyhe to the yl there Gan it gon,

two spereschaft^ lengthe there anon ;

but Kon ner it ne kam there,

nethir not ne wolde In non Manere : 140

So Riche thike litel vessel was. The uttie ihip

ia very rioliy

That Sire Nasciens thowhte In non ph

Nether vppon the lond ne vppon the See —

So Eiche A vessel that Myhte ban be ; 144

For witA-owten it was Set so ful of precious stones,

Every bord ful thikke for the Nonis,

So that Nasciens wende ful Sekerly

that Alle worldly princes, ful Certeynly, 148

Ne hadden of precious stones so gret plente

lik As In that Schip^ there gan he to se ;

And 3it was that Schipe In Other degre

Anoured^ with diuers lowellis Certeinle. 152 adored with

inany Jewela«

thanne beheld Nasciens this Schipe on bothe side,
And Alle the letes sauf xij In that Tyde,
Alle they weren Echon of Sylver fyn tho,*
And the poyntes with fyn gold I-gamesched weren Also,
that was Also Cler Schynenge 167

As the Sonne vppon the water whanne it is Glemerynge ;
And to fom, As scharpe And trenchaunt they were /

* deus lanches

*—* aournee d'autrea choses dont nasciens ne B*e8meniil1oit
xnie mains; Car el bort d'une part et d'autre auoit saietes,
truskes a .zij., qui toutes estoient d'ai^ent. — ^A.

410 NA8CIEN8 HRABS THAT OALAFISRB 18 DEAD. [CH. ytti

As Evere was knyf Owtlier Ony spere. 160

Whanne Kasciens Sawk this good Man fast by,

and beheld that he wolde Comen No Nj,

Nasciens to-ward hym gan to dresse.

With him to speken In Sekemesse. 164

NMdvnt w«i. thanne seide JS'asciens, " Sire, welcome ae be ! "
nu. " Graunt Mercye, Sire/' quod this good man Sekerliv

thanne Axede This good Man Nasciens Anon,

''how that Into this Contre (xonnen ^e to gon, 168

that Is so fer from Every Manl"

thos Axede he of Nasciens than.

" Now Certes, faire Sire/* quod Nasciens tho,

" I ne wot Into this yl how I come to ; 172

but wel I wot It was be goddis wille

That this yl I Cam vntille ;

And bothe thorwh his grace and his Myht

that me deliuerede from that Crwel Enyht, 1 76

Owt Of his presown, Sire Calafer,

Where that I was In Eiht gret danger."
B» teiu NatriMM ** 16, Sire, Of Calafer have thou non drede,

that Calaftr* It

dMd; For he is ded on Eyht Evel dede 180

Al so wykkedly As man Myhte deye,
I telle the, Nasciens, now Certeinlye."
" ha, goodo swete Sire," quod Nasciens tho,
" Is this trewe that 30 seyn me vnto 1 184

And how myhtew ^e haven thereoffen knowcnge,
this were to Me A Merveillous thinge."
** 3if, Sire, Sekei-ely," this good man seyde,

hauvhimdto. "this day I sawhe whanne that he deyde." 188

"And this be Soth, Sire, that je me Seye,
Ajid je An Erthly Man Certeinlye,
It may not Acorden, In non degre.
That I so fer from folk scholde be 192

as je diden me ferst to vndirstonde
that I was so fer Owt of londe ;
And 3it is it not past Matyn tyme.

en. XXXI.] NA3CIENS ASKS THB OLD MAN ABOUT THB SHIP. 411

'Ne])er no wher ny the Owt of pryme, 196

And ^e so faste scholde han gon,

For Erthly man myht neuere don it non."

" Now I the Sey," quod this goode Man tho, Tiie ow Man

" I sawh hym ded with-Owten Mo. 200

And 3it Art thou from thyn Owns Contra
Ferthere thanwe that thow wenest to be ;
And jif thow wilt not Me leven of this, ten* Kasciens

CI n 1 1 1 -n» • 1 . **A 4 he'll repent If he

iSore ISchal the Eepenten with-owten mis, 204 win not beueve.

Al so Sore As thow dydest Ere,

Whanne In the Schipe thou spoke thike wordys

there,
thorwh wheohe Into the water Jou wentest Anon,
& perQ to hauen deid, wistest f ou non Othir won." 208

Whanne Nasciens vndirstood hym tho Naadtnsthen

That he So Merveillously Spak him vnto,
and Eemembred him In swich Manere
Of J)* wordis that he In the Schip^ spak there, 212
Whiche that non man vndirstondyn ne Myhte,
but Only God thorwh his Insihte, conclude* that

Gk>d alone can

Thanne supposid he Aboven Alle thins iM^e wnt the

Old Man,

that from God it Cam, theke discouereng, 216

And that God hadde discouered hym tho

To thike olde Man that to hym Cam so.

And that to hym was he sent In Comfortynge,

Som7/ie cfoode tydynges him forto brynge. 220 ■<> »»« ten« him

^ " " ^ " " ^ that be belieTea

thanne to this good Man Seid Nasciens Agein, bim,

" Sire, I leve jow ful wel In Certein ;
Of Alle thinges that 30 me Seye
I beleve 30 w wel Certeinlye ; 224

but of that Schipe that wente fro Me,
Sire, konne ^e there olfen owht tellen Me, *«<» "k* iiim

^ nUinit the Ship

jif It Eu^e Owht schold Comen Agein that epiit.

Into on[y] place there I am Certein, 228

and 3if Evere Ony More I schal it se
In ony place where so that I be."

412 Solomon's &hif ttpifies holy chubch. [ch. xxxl

«(

thtOldlCaa

^e, ihou schalt it sen/' qi^d this good Man.
" Better Arayed thaune Euere was it than ; 232

For it groweth & -wexeth Every day
Bettere thanne other WitA-owten delay,
And so it schal whiles the world doth Endure,
Sekerly, Sire Nasciens, I the Enswre." 236

" Sire," quod Nasciens to that good Manne,
" that Schipc that Every day Encresscth thanne,
It Xis non Schipe As Othere he." 239

" thou seist soth," qwod this goodman, " ful sekerle ;
but Of A schipe it is the Semhla^vnce,
And of the highe god A gred demonstraunce
that he wolde hedir it to the Sende ; 243

but of his signefiaunce thou schalt knowen y Ende,
and Otherwise thanne A schipe thou schalt it calle
In tynio Comeng, So May be-falle."
" Certes, Sire," quod Nisciens tho,
" I beleve wel that 36 sein me vnto ; 248

to tdi him whu And therfore, sire, I preye aow for charite,

tlw Ship triilAes. » » i- ./ 7

The Signefyaunce that ^e tellen me."
** I schal the tcUen with Ryht good chere,"
quod this Good Man Anon Ilyht there. 252

" The Schipe that thow here Sye, Sikerle

It typiiiM Holy It signeficth holy Chirche, Siker thow }je,
whiche that is the most dclitable thing
In Al this world with-owten varyeng ; 256

wiiich, iik« the and lik As the schipe hadde non thing w/t/z-lnne

Ship,

bote feith & Creaunce, nejjer more ne Mynne, —

As vppon the bordys Rehersid the scripture, —

Ryht so fareth holy Chirche, I the Enswre, 260

has only Faith that bothc feith and trowthe, as I the say,
In holy Chirche it is from day to day ;
And of these two thinges ferst Sekerly
holy Chirche was fowndid, I telle the pleynly. 264

And as th« " And the Brefis that on the schipe weren set,

writinif on the

Ship forbida men Signefieth holy Scripture w/t/t-owten lot,

CH. XXXI.] THK WRITING ON THE SHIP IS HOLY SCRIPTURE. 413

wheche defendith that non Man schold Entren there

but he be stedfast In feith In AUe Manere ; 268

Eiht 80 defendith the same Scripture,

XoM man holichirche to Entren but he be pure,

And of Synne I-clensed that he be,

[By] confescioun Of mowthe ful Openle 272

And with herte-ful Repentaunce,

And to God to ben stedfast In Creauwce,

& therc-offen Mevable that he ne be,

As is the paynym In Eche degre, 276

That wile Tornew with Everey wynd ;

»

For swech is Evere the paynyms kynd.

But the Cristene owht not forto don so ;

but As A myhty Bole they scholden do, ^ 280

that is Sekir of Fote And of fundeme7it,

wlianne that ho is asayUed of his Enymycs present ;

Eyht so stedfastlych In Alle Manere

Scholde Evere Cristen Man lyven here ; 284

And stedfastly beleven In holichirche,

And there-Inne Alle goode werkys to wirche,

Forto defenden hem with strengthe & Myht

A3ens that Enemy that, bothe day & nyht, 288

doth what he Can hem forto withdrawe

bothe from god & from holy Chirche lawe.

And therfore I Rede now Every Man

to fownden him In the fadir, what that he kan^ 292

the wheche is Crist, Goddis Sone of hevene,

that Into therthe discended with Mylde stevene.

" And lik As the Schip«, Ordeyned it was
thorwh the See to Gon In Every plas, 296

And with-Owten peryl to Comen to londe ;
So Is holy Chirche, as ]?at I vndirstonde.
For to Susteyne the Cristene In this world here.
That they ne perschen not In non Manere. 300

" be the Schip« vndirstonde thow holy Chirche ;
Ati<^ be the See, the world, jif fon wilt wirche.

to enter It
onleas thcj're
ttedfiut in faith.

■o no one can
enter Holy
Church

Clears?]
except by Con-
leeelou and
Repentance.

And after,
be rooet live
■tedlketly.

and work good
works,

and flMind himself
In the Father,
even Christ.

The Ship Is Holy
Chnreh.
The sea Is the
worid.

414 THB BBD SIGNIFIES THS BOLT TABLl AND 0HRIBT*8 CBOSB.

HoIyClraKli
keeps Ood't

and parillee tbem.

The Bed meant
the Holy Table

on which Ood'a

BonUoon-

aecrated,

the wine turnd
to Blood,
and the bread
to flesh.

The Bed also
means Christ's
Cross, that he
was crucified on«

And lyk As the Schip« thorwgh the See

Saveth the Men that there Inne he 304

From AUe Maneres perilles of here Body,

lik So doth holy Chirche fol trewely ;

Evere Goddis Servauntes doth he kepe,

whethir that they waken other Slepe, 308

From Alle Maner of dedly Synne,

That Kon Schal Entien hem wtt^Inne.

For holy Chirche pongeth Also Clene
Alle Manere of goddis Servauntes hedene, 312

lik As the Gold Eesceyveth his Clemesse
he Sevene weyes In Sekemesse,
Wheche that Moken hym to Schyne So hryht
Aboven Alle Oper Metales that ben more lyht ; 316
And lik As the Sonne passeth the sterre.
So doth gold Alle Metales bothe Ny & ferre.

" Now of the Schip I haue the told the signifiaor^ce ;
And now of the bed I wele with-Owten variaiuice. 320
the Bed Signefyeth In Certein
the holy table, I sey the ful pleyn,
where that Every day Goddis sone of herene
Is Onne I-Sacred with ful Mylde Steyene ; 324

Where that the wyn Is I-tomed blood Bed,
And the bred to verray flesch In that Stod,
be the vertu of the holy wordys there
that the blessed man Sejrth In his Manure. 328

So be this Schalt thoii vndirstonde
the cros that Crist was on Crucified In Ivrie londe.
Where onne I-Sacred that he was,
and Made Eedempcioun In that plas, 332

Mannes Sowle to byen from helle, —
The develis powste forto felle, —
Whiche Every day to fom his ded
Wenten to helle, that fowle Sted. 336

•• Also jit myhtest thou vndirstondyn More
be the Bed what it is to Signefye thore,

CH. XXXI.] THE WHITE SPINDLE MEANS OHBIST^S YIItGINITT. 4l5

A tiling that Mad is on forto Eeste Th« Bed bIm

iDCAnt a place

Whan72e Crist had Suffrcd deth, As hym liked beste. for chrut to

ii»«ni rn -ii t\ m t ^^ When he'd

For Evere Aftir Strong IravaiLle 341 aoibrd death.

Behoveth A man to Resten Sawn faylle :

Biht so Schalt thou vndirstonde,

that aftir that god hadde suffred schonde, 344

Rest that Crist took As hym list

In what place so him liked best.

** Now haue I the told the signefiaunce
Of Schipe & bed with-owten variaunce. 348

Xow of the thre Spyndelis wil y fonde, Aetothe

^•^ ^ ' Splndlee,

Owther brau/tches, whethir je welen yndirstonde j—

For, with-Owtcn gret Tokenywg,

Abowtes that bed Envirownenge 362

was not don, wel myhtes thou wete.

As I schal the Openly declaren itte, —

Of wheche on was whit, Anofer was Red,

the thridde was grene In that Sted : 356

what the Signefyaunce is of these thre,

Schortely I wele it declaren to the.

" Ferst, be the whit thou schalt vndirstonde, the white <me

mean* Christ* a

Whanne Crist Cam ferst In to Erthly londe, 360 Tiigiiiity:'

he Cam Only In virgenite,

And Into the blessid virgins so Entred he ;

And hire virginite ne dide Neucre schende,

but Clene virgine Abideth w/t/i-owten Ende. 364

For Into hire bosom he Entred As Clos

As^ A ^ate is schet J)er that no man In gos j

And As holyche he Isswede Ageyn,

And Euere the jate clos schyt In Certein. 368

So this betokeneth virginite

In Alle degres, As thou myht se.

" The Rede braunch that vppon that bed lay, the Red one

which of his owne kynde is pro&y, 372

therby schalt thou vndirstonden charite,

* MSAflAfl.

416 THK BBD BPINDLB MEANS CHABITT; THE GBEEN, PATIENCE.

maani ChrUt't
hamilitjr In
giving hii body
to redMm uuui'f
■oul.

It alto 1IM4I1S

ChrlM't knr*.

TiMQrNn
fipindte

maftiii PkUcom/

whldi nirant
% Chrlttian
victory over
bia

WiihYlrKfnity,

HeeknMS, tnd
Clmrlty

WM the Bed
coverd.

In Crist that So lowliche wolde be,

that bowed his body to passiown,

For Mannes Sowle to maken Redeinpcioan. 376

behold, swich lownesse he schewed pere I

and the grettcst 3ifte for man In onj Manere

jaf Crist there ! his Owne Body,

the wheche that is lyf Eu^re lastyngly. 380

lo, hire Charite myhtest ^u vndirstonde,

whan»e that In dodly flesch he hym wond

In the welle of Cliarite and of pite ;

lo, thus dyde Crist for love of the ! 384

" Be the tothir Spyndole that grene was, ^
wheche On the bed was In that plas,
that to An EMeraude I-figured it Is, —
The wheche that to paciense wit/i-owten Mya 388

Is the Semblaunce Of that ston,
As men it knowen ful Manyon ;
the wheche Emeraude is Evere Grene,
lik 80 is paciense with Owten wene ; 392

the wheche may neuere ben taken Away
For non deseisse, I dar wel Say,
Nethir for non Maner Adversite,
jif In A Cristen Mannes herte I-grou«ded it be. 396
For be pacyense schalt thow han victorye,
And with paciense discomfit thyn Enemye ;
For there as paciense I-herberwed he ys,
There is Evere victorye with Owten Mys. 400

For thouhe thy Enemy be neuere So wood,
and these thre thou wel vndirstood,
And kepe hem Sadly In thin herte, —
thanrie schal thyn Enemy neuere the Asterte, — 404
Whiche is ferst virgynite,
Meknesse, and thanne Charite ;
And with these thre Certeinlye

was the bed I-couerid sothfastlye, 408

Whiche the verray Cros doth Signefye,

OH. XXZI.] NASOIEKS'S DREAU OF THB SERPENT AND WORM. 417

On wheche that Crist gan ypon deye ;

For whaime On the Cros he sufi&ed ded,

Alle these thre weren In his Manhed ; 412 ThcMtiurM

Fop As holy writ it doth Certefye,

' with-Owten these thre was he not Sekerlye ;

For these three vertwes weren with him there tMom mn with

whanne he sufirede deth In Alle Manere ; ; 416 moud dflath.

So with virgynyte, Charite and pacyense,"

[He conquerd Death, and bought us bliss intense.^]

In this Mene while that this good Man whneth«oid

Man !■ cxpfadnfntf

Of Alle these thinges to Kasciens spak than, 420 umm tungi,

and told hym Al the Signefiaunce

of Schip6 and bed with-owten vanaunce,

that plesed to Kasciens So wondirly wel

Al that this Man Seide Everydel ; 424

For so swete and so delicat his wordis were^

that Kasciens fil on Slepe ryht there. KmcIww ftdii

And £yere him thowhte. As he lay,

that this good man to hym talked Alway. 428

And whanne that he whiche In the yessel was,
Sawh Kasciens On Slepe In that plas,
thanne thens Anon he gan to hye.
And wtt^Inne A litel while Sekerlye 482

he was thennes A gret lome,
Ful fer Abrod Into the Se.

Whanne this good man was forth gon,
And Kasciens Slept stille as a ston, y/ 436

In his sleep he thowhte, be his Entent, ^nd drMmi that

- , . ^ <M » gr«at Serpent

that to fom him Gam a gret Serpent, attacka him.

And him AsaUlede wonder faste,

Tyl that he hurt hym Atte laste, 440

And smot hym sore yndir the lefte syde.

And sore he defensed him At that tyde ;

'—* a chele angoisBe quUl souffri, 11 firent oompaignie ches
trois choae8» virginites, caritea, et pascienche ; et ensi, gamis de
ches troia ohosea^ uenqui 11 Ub mort, et ramena notre vie au
monde. — A«

OBAAU 27

418 NASOISNS'S DBSAM OF THS 8KBPKNT AND WOBM. [cH. ZZXL

•ad iM flnt bat his defens Mjbte ful litel Avmylle^

defend hlmMll^ mi.ii % «•••!

tiu % uttu worm Tyl atto the laste thanne eaun faille 444

him, there Can a Wenn of lytel powere.

In Socooreng of Kasciens there.
whM tht 8«pMi And whanne p* serpent Sawh ^t wetm comen tho^

From Naaciens he fledde him fro, 448

wich Cam to him for Socourenge,

thanne In this Serpent was non longer^ Abydynge.

Thus thowhte Nasciens In his Slepinge.

And whanne he Awok, with-owten Taiyenge 452

he was Abascht, And wende Sekerly

fat with the Serpent he hadde fowhten Certeinly ;

and folly Awaked thanne was he,

thanne wiste he wel ful Sekerle 456

that yerrayly Aslepe he was

thorwh the Swete wordes pat In that plas

that the goode man Seide to him tho,

whiche In the vessel was Ago, 460

that he ne Cowde be non-were Aspye

In Al the See, nether fer ne Nye.
and bUniM him- thanne to hym Self he gan to Coaipleyne,

Mlf for forgetting

•11 umt the Old And thus to hym Self he san to seyne, 464

Mui had told ^z '

him. * that he was bothe A fool & A Caytyf

that In sweche degre hath led his lif,

So that In his Slepe was taken Away

Al that the goodman to hym gan say, 468

And ful lytel of wit thanne was he

that this format In Alle degre.

Of Alle the wordis of this good Man

that In the yl to hym seide he than, 472

And In his Sleeps it was from him gon,

Onne this word Cowde he tellen non.'
but leve we now of his talkynge,
The story tamt And Celidoyne his sone let vs forth bringe, 476

to CeUdoyu.. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ j^.^ g^^^^

That to him be-fil ful Certeinlie.

OH. XXXIL] OEUDOTNB's ADVENTURB8. 419

CHAPTER XXXII.»

Celidoyne^B Adventures. How when the Nine Hands bear him
from Colafere, he is carrid id an island, five days' sail from
Nasciens's isle (p. 420) ; and it is very wild, and ' feeble
comfort' for him (p. 421). A thunderstorm comes on,
and Celidoyne gets into a c^ve (p. 421). Two ships come
to the island, and an old mariner laments the hard fate
of their crews (p. 422). Another tells him not to fear.
Celidoyne approaches them : they are heathen Persians
(p. 422), and are going, under their king Label, to fight
the Syrians (p. 423). Label describd : he hates Chris-
tians. He has his pavilions pitcht on the shore. Celi-
doyne talks to his attendants, and they take him to King
Label, who treats him kindly (p. 423), and asks who he
is. Celidoyne tells him. Label says he knows Evalach,
and is sorry to hear that he has ohangd his faith (p. 424).
Celidoyne tells Label how he was deliveid from Calafere,
Label wonders at the boy, and makes him a knight (p.
426), and lets him lie by him ; and tells his Council that
he should like to marry Celidoyne to his daughter (p.
426). Label then goes to bed, and has a Vision of a
Tree from which flowers grow, and of a Fiery Serpent
which destroys the tree and flowers (p. 426-7). In the
morning the king's g^uards tell him they have caught a
lion. They then wake Celidoyne, and take him to the
king. Label orders his Council to be calld (p. 427), tells
them his dream, and asks them to interpret it. They
oonsulti but cannot. Celidoyne then rises, and tells the
king that he will explain it to him (p. 428). Celidoyne
then tells Label what he saw (p. 429), and declares that
the Meadow means the World, which is pleasant to sin-
ners, who think that it will abide with them for ever (p.
429) ; but, as the meadow is scoroht by the sun, so will
mankind be when the soul leaves the body (p. 4^). Ab
to the Tree, it signifies man's person, even Label's, which
is feeble and poor (p. 430). And of the Flowers, there is
an unfading one, the Virgin Mar\- (p. 430) ; her. Label did
not see, but only fading ones. Bounty, Prowess, Courtesy,
of which and otiier virtues Label has many, but not de-
voted to the service of God (p. 431). The Heap of
Earth signifies the mass of man's sins; and Label has
heapt sin on sin daily since his birth (p. 432). The
Serpent- signifies the death of the soul, which comes to
those who will not turn from the joys of earth (p. 432).

■ The Additional MS 10,292 (fol. 36 b, col. 3) heads this,
chapter ' Ensi que J. tempest en mer la v deus nes furent en
grant peril,' and begins 'En ceste partie dist li contes, que
quant les .ix. mains en orent porte celtdoine hors de la poeste
oalafer en petit d'eure, si comme on le sot uraiement, puis
que 11 fa eslongies del pais tant oomme Tespaoe de .x. ioumees
dure.*

420 or THB BOT OEUDOTKB OK ▲ DESEBT ISLE. [OH. XXXH.

Celidoyne theo Bays that he will tell Label of a secret
deed done bj him, and warns him that he will die
within four days (p. 438). Celidoyne then tells Label that
Ood oommands him to turn Christian ; and as a sign tells
him that he, Label, had secretly murderd his sister on the
1st of May, for refusing to let him lie with her, and had
oast her body into the sea. Label says no earthly man
oould have known this (p. 434). He has his bed made
ready ; gives Celidoyne in charge to his barons (p. 435) ;
goes to bed, and makes long and grieyoos lamentation^
calling himself a poor oaitifE, who shall die Uke the
poorest man. And where shall he then go? (p. 435).
What shall he take with him f (p. 4.^6). He has nothing
to meet death with, and none can tell him what he
shall be after death. Therefore, let him remember his
life, and choose now for endless joy or pain (p. 436),
knowing that this world*8 joy is but sorrow and mourning.
Wretch that he is ; yet Qod has wamd him. And to hj
falls asleep (p. 437).

Kow here declareth in this partye,

wh«atiMViiM how that the Nyne hondis Sekerlye

cdidornt from delyvorid Celjdejne Owt of dawngere

From alle the yeniaunce of Calafere ; 4t

With Inne Schort tyme, £r he Cowde knowe,
Ful fer from his Centre was he throwe
Into the Se ful Apertlye ;

th«y Mfc Urn 101 Al hoi X. lomes ful Sekerlye 8

d.7fjoorm7 ofl; ^^ j^^ ^ Iome,i— As Seith the book,—

there was he left, ho-eo wile it look,

be the wil of the Maister Above,

that on Celidoyne gan preven his love, 12

inaniaiaiid. and lefte him there In An Yle

besides thai his fadir was In Exyle ;*

properly from his fadir fyve lome

this Celydoyne was left ful sekerle. 16

and whanne In this yl he was there,

Amyddes In the See he wiste neuere where,
HawuoniyT and therto A Child but of jong Age —
mMthaoid. vii. jer« V. Monthes' — ^and ferto fair of visage, 20

' tant com Tespasse de .x. ionmees dureni — A,

■ sour la riue de mer, en vne isle ou ses peres eatoit^^A.

' iouenes enfes en Taage de .x. ans seulement. — ^A.

CH. XXXII.] OF OBLIDOYNB ON HIS DESERT ISLE.

421

& therto Closed In A wondir place ;
In the Same plase p&re that he wase,
vppon the ton side A wylde forest
"Walkyng wel ful of Raveynous beste ;
the tothyr was the Open see,
Where as litel Comfort thanne Sawh he
but hjghe Eokkes & wateres wilde ;
this was feble Comfort for A Childe :
but 3if he hadde had y More Compenje,
To A child it was ful gret Anoye.

Anon As thus In this yl he was,
The wedyr gan chongen In that plas,
To dyrkene, & to Keyne it gan ful faste.
And to lyhtene and thondren thanne Atte laste ;
And So Oribly ferde that trowbelynge,
that semede An Ende Al the world to bryinge.

thanne this Child of tendir Age
Sawgh that the See was So savage
And So spetous onne forto loke,
that for drede his herte tho quoke
lest that the wawes Of the se
Scholde han Come» fere he hadde be ;
And so yp6 Into, the yl he drowh him faste,
& In a Bokke he Aspyde Atte laste
Where it was Cloven In part Asondir,
And thedir In he wente for ferd of thondir
Also sore Abasched As he Myhte be ;
And Ev^e to wardis the see loked he.

So longe atte laste loked he there
Tyl him thowhte, As be his Manere,
he sawh where Comen, As to his Eye,
Schepis with Meyne tho Sekerlye,
So that the wawes of the Se
To that yl hem drof ful Sikerle.
thanne they Criden pat wtt^Inne were,
" Save vs, oper we schole perschen here."

On one side of
Celidoyne Is a
24 wild-beast foiest;

<m the other,
rooks end sea.

28

32

It rains, lightens,
andthondera.

36

40

Oelldojne takea
rsftise in a deft
44 of the rock.

DMfIS]

48

He aeea ships
y coming to his
02 island.

56

423

CKLIDOTKS MSBT8 PABT OF THB FERSIAIT HOST. [cH. ULUL

Tvoihlpf
tothtldaDd.

ABold

offootlM Ulaad
thaatlMMa.

MWlld

And wbilles they Criden, A Maden this fare,
Tweyn Schepis to pat yl A-Ryved there ;
To the Same Koche there Celydoyne was,
Comen bothe Schepis, Ab was here gras. M

And whanne that they weren Aiy^ed there,
thanne Cam fere forth An Old Marynere
that Knew more thanne Ony Othir
Of Al that Compenye Among ^ot fothir ; 64

And thus he Seyde fol sore wepinge,
With deolful Noise and Sore Cryenge :
'' Sire," he seide, " this ys A wondir Chaonce,
that of Oure lyres we weren In dowtaunce ; 68

and now is mochel wers than it was Er,
For we ben In A grettere dauitger ;
For here Nys non thyng but wUde beste
That YS schal devouren, bothe Meet & leste, 72

and Serpentes bolde, and dragouyis wilde,
that don devowren bothe Man and Childe."

thanne sterte there forth An Old Enyht,
And Spak to the Maister with Al Ins Myht ; 76

" Maister," he seide, " have thow non fere.
Whiles that fyve hundred knyhtes ben here ;
Of the bestes we scholen not drede,
So mochel we trosten In Owre Manhede." 80

And In the Mene whille pat thus gonnen talke,
Celydoyne to hem ward gan forto walke,
and Supposed that Cnstene they hadde ben,
but paynemes they weren Alle beden, 84

'and bom of the lond of percye, —
thus weren they Alle ful Sekerlye —
foingtoflchttht And wenten toward the Ost of Syrre,

SjrxlMit.

that Eyng Samwelis brothir had slayn Sekerle,^ 88
for that with his wif he hym fond
dishonestly, A3ens lawe of lond.

>— 1 et ne de peney et aloient a oet el roiaumo de Byre, sour
flamnel, qui lo frere au roi de perse auoit oohis. — A,

CtUdoynt walk!
toirardi ttMm.

llMytlVplgftB

OH. XXXII.] hAJSBL, KING OF PERSIA, IS KIND TO OSLIDOTNS. *^ 423

So happed, that Amongs this Compenye
was thike tyme the kyng Of percye, 92

Which that was 30iig man, bothe faire & lei ;
his Name was Clepid there Kyng Label ; t«>Mi u King or

Pcraia.

which was A knyht bothe stalworthe and worthy,

And vppon his Enemyes ful Crwel & hardy ; 96

bat In Al the world So mochel hatred^ he than He hmtw chris-

tUos.

As he dyde the trewe Cristene Man.

And whanne to this Boche Aryved they were,
Anon kyng Label Gomanded there — 100

Whanne he Sawh p* wedyr was Ouerpast^
And it Gan to Cleren Atte last, —
he Charged that his pavylouns weren pyht.
For there wolde he Besten Al Nyht. 104

Anon they fulfijden his Comanndement,
And pyhten his pavylouns fere present.

And whiles they weren Abowten here hameys,
Celydoyne Cometh down In to that pres, 108 Ceiidojn«Mki

tho PcnbuM wbo

And hem Grette In his Manere, thqr »•.

And Axed of what Contre ]>at they were.

And they that of him hadde wondir tho,

Merveylled what Contre that he Cam ho, 112

And thus him Answerid Certeinlye,

* that they weren of the lond of percye : '

And so they token this Child Anon,

And to Kyng Label they gonne to gon. 116

thanne whanne Kyng label hym behelde jDag LaM

So faire A Child, and of so ^ong Side,
And therto Clothed So Richely,
In his herte he hadde gret ferly, 120

And thowhte he was Comen of gentyl Kynde,
for this Ean Euere In kyng LabeUs Mynde,
And that Child ful gret Chere he Made, nosiTeiGtudo^

Mitfllv

And fayn he was that Child to glade, 124

' ? for ' So moohe ne hated : ' — ^ne nus ne haoit ri mortel-
ment cresUena com 11 faiaoit.* — A.

424

CKLTDOYJSE TELLS KINO LABEL ABOUT HDIBELF. [OH. rrrn;

Kii«LalMlMki
CaUdoynt

bjJoMph.

& sore desiied he forto knowe

the Childes keniede Tppon A rowe ;

So that this Child he gan to frejne,

And gan to Axen thann^ Certejne 128

Of what Contie that he was.
dUdogriM And thanne ^t child so ful of gns^

that Cowde more In his degie

thanne ony o^ Child ful Sekerle, 132

Told hym Evene the Rihte weje

Of Al his Eyniede ful Sekerlye,
toibhiiB, & told hym Ek More oucr theito

■DdhowEMdMu that his fadir newe Cristened was tho, 136

And Al the lond Ahowtes In-rirown,
■ndiMtCuid^jiMb "And, siie» Cristened I am wit^wten More sermown,

& Cristendom I took Certeinle

Of the hyghe bischopd Of Cristiente, 140

the wheche hyght losepe, I vndirstonde,

that Crist Sacrid hisschope with his owun honde."
Whanne kyng Label herde of this tydyng,

WttA-Inne him Self he made Mochel Momyngy 144

For he knew kyng Eualach ful wel,

And of his prowesse tho Eveiydel

that Eualach dyde with his Owne hond ;

thus dide he Celidoyne to vndiistond; 148

LaiMi iftiMnta " Also, CcUdoyne, ful Certeinly

that Mordraint

aiidNMoi«iithAT« I knowe thy fadir As A knyht worthy;
Wherfore me Eepenteth In Myn herte.
For these tydynges don me smerte, 152

that they ben tomed to the wikked fay.
And han forsaken here Owne lay ;
and Also thy Self, with gret folye,
thy feith hast forsaken vtterlye, 156

therfore with me schalt thow go,
to Asayen what I kan don the to ;
And }it schalt thow tellen Me
how that thou Come Into this Contre, 160

MnAtovukm
paguUtm.

OH. ZXZII.] KING LABEL KNI0HT8 OBLIDOTKS.

426

Into So savage and so wilde A plase,
there as Neuere to foren tjmes Man I-wase."

And Celydoyne hym tolde Anon,
* how that he Owt of presown was gon,
Owt of the hows of Calafere
that My fadyr & I In presown were,
and how bothe they weren Owt past
thorwh Cristes Myht, and that In hast/

*' And whanne Calafer sawh that it was so
that my Fadir owt of presown was go,
tlianne Comanded Calafere Anon
that An hy Into p* towr I scholde gon ;
and there, of his hy Crwelte,
Of that hye towr down Caste he Me.
but lesus Crist, of his goodnesse,
Wold me not weten In swich distresse ;
But be his Mynestres there Anon
I was deUu^red from AUe my fon.
and whanne I was In myn fallyng,
they me Eesceyyed with-owten taryenge,
and Into this plase they me browhte ;
but Sekerly I ne sawh hem nowhte.
Wherfore, lesus Crista graunt Mereye,
that so me deliueredest from myn Enemye I "
Whanne the kyng herde Al this Mevyng,
With-Inne him Self he Made gret Momeng,
and seide tho to his Compenye,
" Of this Child I Mcnreille now Certeinlye."
thanne Seide his Cownseil to hym tho,
" Maketh hym A Enyht, we reden 30W so,
Eor that, sir^, is the manere
Of Cristen peple Eyeriwhere ;
For An Awnter vs thenketh In onre Mynde,
that A fairere Child schole je neuere fynde."
there the kyng him made knyht Anon tho.
Supposing Of his feith to putten hym fro.

Otlidqyn* tolls
Label how h« and
164 Naadenswere
deli vard from
Galatea.

168

173

176

CSirlst had him
eaqght In mid-air.

180 and brought to
thiaialand.

184

King Label «m-
■oltahlamMf

188

192

196

and than kni|^ta
Celidogrna.

iMMUkt

426 LABBL'S DBXAIC or THl FLOWSBmO TBXB AND BBBFSKT. [CH. ZZZO.

That Nyht the Kjng Ordeynede so,
that vacbche Abowtes hym scholde be do ;
And Celidojne be worscbeped tbeie oner Alle tbing,
& Al Kjbt be bym lay As bis derlyng. 200

tbo wbanne tbe Cbild on Slepe was,
)it slepte not tbe Eyng, As happed be Cas,
but Axede Of bis Conseil there Anon,
* What were best with that Child to don, 204

that thus hath Taken Cristiente,
And bis Owne lay forsaketb be.'
" )if I Cowde don him it fonake,
to wurj hii My dowbter bis wif thanne wolde I Make : 208

daogbter to (Ml-

doyiM If bo'dtoni For I knowe fal wel In My Mynde

that be is Comen of ful gentyl kynde.

So that be may not faille In non wyse ;

he Moste ben A knybt Of worthy Aprise ; 212

So thanne my dowbter scbal be have,

And Al my Rem bothe Sownd & save.**
Thanne Aftyr the kyng was leyd Anon,

And Every Man to his wacbcbe gan gon, 216

tbe kyng On Slepe be-fyl Anone ;

^And thus sone bym Cam vision vppone.
LiMiuna virion bym thowhte that In A medewe he was,

Whiche was large & Grene In that plas ; 220

of aftirTneftiU And In that Medewe A fair Tre there was tbo,
^^ And Many diuers flowres Owt of it Gontien go,

that Envirownd this Tre Al Abowte,

And ful of flowres it beng with-owte, 224

As it Axetb the kende After A tre ;

And this Manere wise thus thoubt be.

Whiche tre the kyng beheld fal faste,

'—' et maintenant li fa anis qn'il estoit en J. pre, gnnt^ et
large, et verdoiant^ et biel. Et en ohel pre auoit vne ottchele
[^pot\ de terre qui estoit toute nuene, et estoit emplie de motes
de terra. Et ichele ouchele estoit par de-fors toate aairoonee
de flours qui de li iseoient ausi comme d'nn arbre naiaaent par
nature flours et fuelles. Et li roia regardoit Touchele, dont il
ae meniiUoit moult quant il en ueoit flours iaair. — A.

OH. ZXXII.] label's dream of the flowering tree and SERPEHrT. 427

And fer-OSen MerveUled Atte laste 228

how this tie Swiche flowres scholde bete,^

Wher-offen he M^rveilled In his Maneie.

And besides this Tre Cam Owt A Serpent,

that there flawmes of fyr out Caste veiamenti 232

and wasted this faiie tre Anon,

And Alle the flowres pere Everichon :

thanne Anon After, I the plyht,

Al this was past Owt of the kynges syht. 236

Thanne on the Morewe whanne it was day,
the wachche to hym Cam with-owten delay,
And tolden hym how they hadden that l^yht
Taken A lyown with ryht gret myht.
So that they thowhten, As I vndirstond,
That lyown to leden Into here Owne lond.
Thann to Celydoyne tooken they fe way,
And A-wooken the Child there he lay ;
for ful sore On slepe was he,
that Al nyht to fore In thowht had be
For his fadir Sire Kasciens,
That he ne hadde ben In his presens. 248

And whanne he was Clothed Anon tho,
To the kyng Anon was he browht to ;
thanne the kyng him took be the bond,
And sette hym At his feet, I vndirstond. 252

thanne Comanded he there anon
that Alle his Conseille to forn him scholde gon.
And the wysest of Alle his Meyne,
to forn hym they sembled ful sekerle. 256

And whanne they weren sembled Everichon,
To hem the kyng thanne seide Anon :
" Lordynges," quod the kyng tho,
** A wondir avicioun this Nyht Cam me to ; 260

Wherfore In Ese neuere schal I be
tyl there-Offen I knowne the Certeynte,
And wherto that it Tomai May,

andaSOTpantthat
caata out flra«

and bama op tba
Tree and ita

Labal'a man toU
him thaj'Ta
240 caaghlaUoo.

244 ThajrwakaCaU-
doyM^

aadtakahimto
tbaKlog.

LaM ■mninoiia
biaOcmncU,

and tana ftham of
hlaVisloo.

428 OUiZDOTNA PBOmSBS TO EXPLAIN LABJBL'b VISION. [OH. XXXII.

LaMUDabli

Coaneillkte

VUoo,

•nd aaka 'tm to

Xbtjmnt.

ThM&tiMbOJ

OeUdojnt

torn]

teUs LiOmI thai

iM'tt

txpomidtlM

YialoQ,

M God enaUet

him.

In herte schal I neuere ben glad parfay. 264

is ihia is the Cause that I for 30W sente,

}if Ony of }ow be ^oura Entente^

Cowde me dedaien the verite,

& what sic^efiaunce pat this myhte be," 268

80 pat he declared to hem his Ayisiowiiy

Of Al that he hadde Sein, hoi & som ;

And Aftir, hem preide Everichon

here Avis to schewen ]>er-offen Anon. 272

thanne these Men thowhte hem be-twene,
What Maner of thing it scholde Mene ;
but they ne Cowden for non thing
bryngen that vicyown to An Endyng. 276

And so they seiden to ]>" kyng Anon,
' that non Exposiscioun Cowde they don.'
thanne the Kyng Abascht hym sore,
& seide, ** somwhat it tokeneth, with-ovrten More^" 280
** Sire," they Seiden verament,
** We konne non oper knowen in owre Entent."

Whanne that the Child wheche pere sat
Atte the kynges feet, nndirstood Al that 284

Whiche the kyng hadde Schewed to his Meyne,
there-offen to han knowen the verite,
this Child him dressed vp Anon,
& on his feet stood to fom hem Echon, 288

[ no gap in the MS,]

And forto speken wolde he wonden^ for non,

But spak so lowde to the kyng

that pere o£fen ]>* peple hadde Merveillyng : 292

" Kyng label, I se wel now here

that thy Conseil ne Can in noTi Manere

the declaren the verite ;

but, sire kyng, I schal schowen it to the, 296

lik as the grete Maister Above,

Whos Servauwt I am, & whom I love,

Me hath schewed In My Mynde,

OH. ZXXII.] OELIDOTNB EXPOUNDS KINO LABEL's VISION,

429

the goode lord that is so kende. ' 300

" thou sie In thyn Avisiown
A grene Medwe, Alle & som,
& pere-Inne was A fair Tre

pat with flowres Envirownd was he ; 304

And Aftyr thou sje A Serpent,
wherthorw Alle the floures weren schent.

" Now schal I tellen the my Eesown
As Cometh to myn jonge discressionny 308

For I nam but jong, and htel of wyt^
So gret A thing to declaren It.
but wete pou wel In Certeyn,

that y holigost fulfiUeth pleyn 312

Alle his Servauntes Everychon ;
& so be his Miht I schal the it yndon.

^* The medewe that was so fair & Grene,
signefieth the world ful of treye & tene ; 316

and jit is likenge to alle tho
that there-Inne Abyden & go,
an tho pat there-Inne ben wel at Ese,
And Namliche to synneris it doth hem plese 320

that lyn.Evere In gret dedly synne,
To hem y world is plesyng neper more ne Myime ;
For thus they wenen, with-owte« Mo,
That the world scholde neu&re hem fro, 324

and that Evere In strengthe scholde they be,
and the world with hem laste ful Sikerle ;
& thus they hopen Algates to dwelle
In loye & blisse, as I 30W telle. 328

" but ho so wele vndirstonde the verite,
I schal declare;}, and 30 welen herkenen Me ;
and Oper wise it is in signefiaunce here,
for the Medwe fareth In this manere : 332

On p* Morwe it is grene, & ful of flowres
that fcdr is to Syhte, & swete of Odours ;
and At Even, be hete of the Sonne,

Celidoyne tells
Label he saw a
Meadow,

a Tree rarroanded
by Flowen,

and a Serpent
that deetroyd
the Flowen.

ClMf89]
The Meadow ia
theWorid,

which in the
morning is green
and Ml of flowen*

and at even ia

430 THB TBn IS KINO hlBWLl THB rLOWXB, THE TIBOnr XABT.

MOfVU MMuiyii

likt BUUl't MNll
WhM Ift Idl tiM

ThtTnt!

whieh to-diar It,
and to-mornm to
not,

UkalOnfUbtL

TlMonflidliiff
FlowtrtotlM
VlivlolUrjr.

Fonkorchid & diye to-gederis ben Ronne : 336

Eyht 80 faieth Mankynde Anon

Whanne the Sowle from the body is gon,

to this Medwe may likned I-be,

88 te foien tymes I achew to the. 340

** and what this tie ^doth signefie,
Whiche ia of feble Nature Sekerlye,
Signefieth be mannea peisone here,
That la so pome In Alle Maneie, 344

and is Comen of so pouze kyude,
}if thoa wilt here-offen taken Mynde ;
and of so gret Freelnesee & Caytyrete
here offen cometh Man, As thou myht se : 348

this day A man he Is, to Morwen Is he non :
& so it schal fare be ya now Eyerichon.
but sekerly, kyng label, to this Tte
At this tyme I lykne now the.' 352

** and of the flowies that ^ere Abowtes be^
be-thenk witA-Inne thi self, and he-hold & se ;
but And thou wilt herkene to me,
of A blessid flowr I schal tellen the, 356

that Neuere defaded for non thing,
whiche is ^ yiigine Modyr of y glorous kyng.
That bar god & Man, Owie Savyour,
whiche is Maiye modir & Maide, ^t blessid flour. 360
this flour, non thing Apeyien it May,
from y begynneng Into domesday ;
and there as Oj^er flowies bo])* dryen & fade,
this flowr is Evere bothe loyful & glade. 364

** but of this flour that is bothe bryht & Cler,

'—' SI dois aprefl ueoir la senefianche de rouohele {jpat^f
qui est feble chose et mauuaise, et de si poure sasteDanche ke
ele puet maintenant estre brisie, Et ke li potiers le fist de li-
mon [«aiM{] vil et mauuais ; senefie home, qui est si poure choae^
et com crees de si mauuaise semenche, quUl est ausi frailles et
ausi oaitis comme 11 pes qui de legier est brisles. Snsi frailles
est horn, car or endroit est, et ore endroit n*est mie. Far
rouohele ke tu veis en ton songe, es ta senefiies, rois labieL — A

OH. ZXXII.] THB FADING FLOWEBSy AND THB HBAF OV BABTH. 431

In thyn Avicion haddist fon non wameng ther ;

For that flowr flEtreth In non degre

As the flowies that weren schewed to the. 368

The flowres that Fadyn so Every day, The Fiowm that

Ahowtes the, Sire, they hen In fay.

And wilt thow knowen, sire, what they he t

Anon, Sire, I schal here declaren hem the : 372

The ton flowr is hownte, fill Sekerly ; i. bomtj;

The second prowesse ; the thrydde is Cortesy ; s. prowMj

and Manye other vertwes hen The Ahowte, coaruv;

Mo thanne Aaofer man hath, sawnz dowte, 376

And hettere Norture In Alle degre

thanne Manye 0])er hen Sekerle ;

For As manie vertwes thou hast, wtt^-Owt n variaunoe, au wuch.

As Eaere hadde Man that is ful of Mescroaunce ; 380 i^M^hu^

And therto thou Art hothe fair & semly ; and it fcir,

but not to god, I sey 30W pleynly, bat not to ood.

but onliche to that fals & strong Enemy

that Alle dayes of thy lyve thou woschepist only. 384

For so manye vertwes In the ben

As Evere In Miscreaunce A man may sen ;

Wherfore it is gret Rowthe & pyte

that so gracious vertwes In Miscreaunt schold be. 388

*' Now schal I the declaren^ Every del
—and thow wilt vndirstondyn Me wel—
What signefleth that like tre,

and the floures that ]>ere-Abowte8 be ; 392

and the ^hepe of Erthe that is therby, TiwbMiporMrth

As schal I the declaren ful Openly.

*' that hep6, it is to vndirstonde,

* for 'have I the declarid*: the French is, "Or t*a{ de-
moustre,** fait li enfes, "ke Touohiele senefie, et lee flours qui
entour estoient.'* — A.

* — * The earth is in the pot : see the French note to 1. 841,
p. 430. Ore te dirai ke la mote de terre senefie. La terre amon-
chelee dedens le pot, aenefie la grant carge dee pechiee morteus
ke 11 horn maleureua amonchiele chascun lour dedena aoi plus
et plus par mesesrer encontre son oreatour, quant 11 ne se ueut
amender, ne pour parole ne pour amonestement ke on 11 die, — ^A«

432 THB HEAP OF 8IK8, THS SSRFKNT THAT KILLS MSN'S BOULR.

to maaUBd Slid that mankynde In ony londe 396

be fild 80 f ul of dedlj Synne,
of filthes of wrechchednesse, hem Alle wttA Inne
and Every day they hepen More and More,
& gaderen hepe vppon hep0, fat doth hem sore, 400
be wrechchednesse & Many Othir thing.
Everyday to here Owne hyndring,
and greven sore here Creatonry

Whiche that they Owten don honour ; 404

And they welen not Amenden hem for non thing.
For speche ne]»er for Manassyng.'

TUtbaspofaiiifl "and this hep«, sire, Is with-Innen the,

!• Ia King Labtla r j j j

and from thy birthe Euere hath be ; 408

For sethen of thy modyr that ]>ou were bore,

whontmdid didest thou Nevere good, lasse ne more,

baft aiwajB 111, but Euere Contrarye thy Creatour'

lo hl« Ctattor.

thou hast him wraththed In Every Our; 412

and thus hast ]k>u gaderid wtt^Inne the,
hep6 vppon hepd f ul Sekerle,
and Every day Synne vppon synne,
and of this lif noldest }om not blynne ; 416

thanne thus be thin Aviciown
thou Art the same, bothe Alle & som.
The strpant lathe " Now of this Serpent I schal the telle,

death of the aoal

of iDMi who and thou wilt lestene me vntylle : 420

the serpent, the deth of y sowle doth signefye.
Of Man that In this world lyveth bodily,
and In the world hath passeng delyt,
Where-offen neuere that he wolden ben qwyt; 424
and for non wameng ne wil not he

win not tarn to Tomeu to the loye that is lastyngle :

eTeriaattng Joy,

and for they welen not don so,
end therefore go to Endeles deth therfore they go. 428

to endleea rteeth ^

of thyn Avicioun this is the signenaufice,

* ne feais tu riena, ne en parole ne en oeure^ qui ne ftut
oontre ton creatour. — A.

OH. ZXXII.] CELIDOYNE TELLS LABEL HE SHALL DIE IK 4 DATS. 433

436 h0W7« he'll ten
Label a Mcre(
thinff.

440

444

as me scheweth the holy gost with-Owten variauyice.

*'and for bat in me thou schalt han more Affyauwce, That ceUdoyn«

naj b« mora

I Bchal the tellen of a more dowtaunce, 432 tnutod.

of swich A thing As thou hast don

longe tymes hens, & fern Agon,

and thou hast evere In supposing

that per-ofifen knoweth non Erthly thing

but thou Alone, ful Certeinle ;

but fovL art desceyved, I telle it the ;

For he that knoweth Alle thing,

Me hath it put in vndirstondyng."

Whanne the kyng herd him thus seye,
Al Red he was for schame Sekerlye :
" Sey on," qt^ the kyng tho Anon,
** What is that thing whiche I have don,
that thou seyst non knoweth but I :
Sey on what it is now, belamy."
" Sire," quod Celydoynes tho,
" that schal I anon gladliche do :
And thou wilt, Aforn Al thyn Meyne,
Owther thou wilt Ellis, In prevyte.
^For As I haue be ful supposing
of Enformeng of fat glorious kyng,
the prikkes of deth doth signefie
the serpent, I sey the ful sekerlye."^

" Schal I thanne dyen 1 " quod the kyng.
" ^e, with-Inne fowre dayes, with-owten varycng, 456
Owt of this world schalt thou pace ;
but whedir thou Nost, ne Into what place,
and therfore loke what Couseille thow wilt have,
^if that thou thenke thy Sowie to save ; 460

and loke that thou now leve Me,
For thing that I schal tellen to the."

* — * et si le vous mande par moi li haus maistres, chil qui
set toutea lea choaes qoi sont a oenir, ke li serpena ke vous
Teiates en nostre aonge, senefie le point de la mort ou vous estes
venus."— A.

GRAAL. 28

448

452

Tlie Serpent
means the piicke
of death.

and Label win die
witldn i daji.

431 CEUUOTNE SAYS TilAT LABEL MURDERD HIS SISTER. [cH. XXXII.

thanne this kyng took hym on Sjde,
to we ten what he mente At that tyde. 4G4

ceiMoyiw UU4 " Sire kyng, warneng I jeve to the,

Liibol bow

Anon that Cristene Man that thou he ;

And thus Sente the forto Say,

the hyghe Maistor that is god verray ; 468

And he this Tokene lie sente to the,

that non thing to hiin Is preve :
on Haji iM how that thou, the ferst day of May,
■iatartecMu* tte thin Owne Soster thou slowe In fay, 472

WOOldn't lie Wilh ■m'% g^ i 11 n* «

him. -Tor Cause sche wolde not sunren the

with hird hodyly to done Synne and foolee.
And whanne pan Sye sche wold not don so.
And thy folye Conceutyn therto, 476

Anon thou smotest of here hed,
& Into the se threw it In that sted ;
Anon the bodi Aftir thou threw Also ;
this Movrdre didest thou wtt/t-owte/i Mo. 480

And to this wendest fon ful Sekerle
that non Man hadde ben preve ;
but he that is Aboven AUe thing,
Of this Made me to haven vndirstondyng : 484

therfore, lord, worschepid Mot thou be,
that sweche thing openly schewest to Me ! "
Whanne the Kyng horde hym tho speken so.

Label •onfe«Mw " M^rvoilles thou hsst me told," quod y kyng tho, 488

nnn could hare " For there nys non l^lan Erthly levenge
™ '* that I supposid coude telle me this thinge ;
And of Myn Avicioun hast ])ou me told
verray trowthes be many fold, 492

And so openly as thou hast declared it to me
Cowde non Erthly man don Certeinle."

He orden hie bed thauno he Comau7tded his Meyne ful sone

his bed to Maken, for perio wolde he gone, 496

For distempred A lytel he was,
So he hem tolJe In that plas

GH. XXXII.] KING LABEL MOURNS HIS COMING DEATH.

435

they fulfilden Anon his byddyng

In Alle Maner wise, to plesen the kyng ; 500

And thanue Comaunded he his harouns Anon,

Good warde of pat child to setten vppon.

thanne they Answeryd hym Anon,

And seide his Comaundement scholde be don. 504

To his Cowche wente the kyng thanne,
Also hevy As Ony Erthly Manne,
And warned his Baroiuts Everichon,
* that Nyhe hym Comen scholde neucre on ; 508

Whethir he be freend other kynnes man,
Ny hym Scholde Comen non Maner of Man.*
So that they kouered the kynges pavyloun,
that of non wyht he scholde heren y sown, 512

and Also that alle Maner of Clerto
From that kyng defended scholde be.

The Kyng on his Cowche was leyd Anone,
And to hym Self he Made ful gret Moue 516

For the wordes that Child Celidoyne
to hjrm hadde there seid In Certeyne.
thanne gan he to wepen wondirly Sore,
With wryngeng of hondis, & jit Mochel more, 520
that the water of his Eyen Kan by hym Adown,
Al Abowtes his body there In virown ;
And thus to his pe;*sone he gan Compleyne
of Manye Caytyvetes tho In Certeyne : 524

" Ow thou now ful powre Caytyf,
With owten Counseil, & Cursid Of lyf,
that Neuere ne woldest CounseiUed be
to non good lyveng. In non Maner degre, 528

that the myhte Counseille thy sowle to save ;
Swich Maner Counseille wost thou not have !
Now, fals Caytyf, here schalt thou deye
As the porest man In the world trewlye. 532

" Whedir schalt Jwu go, thou Cursed Caytyf,
Whanne firom thy body Is past thy lyf 1

King Labtl goM
to bed,

•nd moftni over
what Celidoyiia
baa told him.

He weepe bltterlj.

•aja he's a poor
caitiff.

with no one to
saYe hia eoul :

beahaOdie;

and when ahaU
be go?

436 KINO LABEL MOUBKS HIS COHINQ DEATH. [cH. ZXZII.

"What, irowest thou, Caytyf & wrechche Also,
thy Crowne to have whanne )k>u dost go, 536

Owther thy Septre In thyn hond?
What, wenest \>o\i to ben kyng of a lond.
And to haven lonischepe As thou hast here,
KiDffUbtiMjt And therto so moche welthe In Alle Manerel 540

that b* h«s

A, thou Caytevous kyng In Alle Manere,
With Owten Cownseil that the kon/ie lere !
Kow atte ferste myhtest thou knowe

noeooDMUor. that poM hast nou Conseille, neper liy ne lowe. 544
A, kyng and Caytyf Also,
Wiih owten loye Art thou Eucre Mo.
For this that me clepeth the prykke of deth,
Whanne that £che man schal lesen his bretli, 548

thanne forsaken Me bothe Modir & wyf,
And Alle the peple that Evere boren lyf ;
For there kan non of hem Alle

KoiM oaa t«ii him tellen what A ventures me schal be-falle 552

what thall >>o<WI

bim when h« Whanne owt of this world that I schal gon,
What Aventures me scholen fallen vppon ;
Whethir Riche other powre that I schal be,
Owther A man of lowere degre, 556

Owther At Ese, Other At non Ese.

" 0 caytevous kyng, ho schal the pere plese 1
0 thoa wrechche and Ek Caytevous kyng,
that hast here So gret A gaderyng, 560

And so Manye worschepis As thou hast here !
0, powre wrechche, what schalt po\i han Ellis where 1
And whanne hens that thou schalt go,
thow nost whether to loye oper elles to wo. 564

Now, Caytevous kyng, Hemembre the wel
Of Alle thy lyveng Everydel ;
And 3it, powre Creature, whiles pon Art here,
Conseille the betters, and In Other Manere ; 568

Now he matt For At thine choys now shal it be,

choose Joy or ,^^ , .1 «

piuishment. Whethyr to loye oper to peyne pat thou wilt ne,

CH. XXXII.] KING LABEL MOURNS HIS COMING DEATH. 437

Whanwe Owt of this world thou^schalt pace,

thow wost neuer Into what Manure of place. 572

" For of this worldys loye Inowh haue I, King Label hu

•nough of this

As mochel As Ony Erthly man trewly world's joy:

that Evere of myn Age was horn-
As I have Eeherscd here hefom — 576
Bat for As Mochel A a that I have knowenge
that this worldis loye nys but sorwe & mornenge,
And that In Momeng schal ben the Ende,
Alle sweche as I am Euere forto schende, 580
thanne knowe I wel that In Every Owr
the loye of this world Nys but dolowr, it is bat sorrow

Ukd WF8tollC<llMSS.

Wraththe, Envye, and wrechchednesse ;
this hatli me thus browht In distresse. 584

thus thanne be my self now may I knowe,
that Alle my loyes to sorwe ben tomed On A rowe.
" A, kyng Caytyf, whanwe thou hennest dost go,
And Into what place foii Nost, ne whedyr to, 588

And whethir that sorwe schole Eucre hauen Endynge,
Owther Ellis Endelesly to ben lastynge !
O most vnworthy wrechche that Evere was,
Now b" Ende of thy lif Aprocheth In this plas, 592 hu end draws

olgb.

And the begynneng of thy Sorwe & Care

Now hast thou fownden Every whare.

Nowbethenke the, the moste ^vrechche]?at euere was bom, D^t m]

why ne wost thou knowen this here beforn 1 596

For he that knoweth Alle Manere of thing, ood has reprord

him.

Of hym it is to me ful grct Reprovyng ;

and he that knoweth Alle thing that is Comerige,

and that to me hath now sent this warnenge, 600 and wamd him

"Wliethir bat I wele Chesen loye other peyne, to choose either

Altars bliss or

he hath me warned now In Certeyne. pain.

And thus In sweche manures, & In Momenge,
the kyng there fyl tho On Slepinge ; 604

Al be-wept lik As he there was,
he fil on slepe In that plas.^

* There is no new chapter in the Manuscript.

433 Kixa label's second vision. [ch. xxxiil

CHAPTER XXXIII.

King LabeVs Vision in his Sleep, and Gelidojne*8 InterprelAtkm
thereof. Laliel dreams that he is on a broad highway
(p. 44U), where felons take all the passers-by, rob them,
and put thein in prison. A seemly man accompanies hixa
along the n>ad, and suddenly disappears (p. 440). He
enters on a little path, full of trees and flowers, and hears
u voice callings all people to wash and eat meat in the High
City above (p. 440). Label goes on, and comes to a high
mountain, and a fnir fountain where the people are wash-
ing themselves (p. 441). He does not wash, but goes oa
to the City, and wants to enter, but cannot, because
he has not washt in the fountain (p. 441). He looks
through a wicket in the door, and sees at the table the
sister whom he had murderd (p. 441). She tells him
to wash, and then eat with them (p. 442). He goes
back to do it, but the thieves lay hold of him, and dng
him to a house in a desert valley, where foul people are,
and which is filth}', black, and full of weeping and crying
(p. 442). Label is in Huch a fright at this dream, that he
roars for help, and all his lords rush to him (p. 443). Two
of them ask lilm what ails him (p. 443) ; he says he has
seen marvels in a dream, of which Le mutt know the
moaning ; and he onlers Celidoyoe to be brought be-
fore him (p. 443). The lords wake Celidoyne, and bring
him to Label, who asks him to expound what he shall
tell him. Celidoyne promises to do so, by the help of
Qod, and threatens Label with endless darkness if he
will not obey him (p. 444). Label kneels to him, and
promises to do all he is told to (p. 445). Celidoyne
then expounds LabePs dream to him : The Broad Road
IS the Old Law, the Robbers are the Devil, the Fair
Guide is Jesus Christ, who took pity on Label (p. 445) as
he had once pitted him. Again, as a ship at sea in a
storm, without captain or pilot, is driven hither or thither
on the broad sea, and can only be helpt by God (p.
446), BO is a man on the broad road of sin in which
Label has walkt ; but God can bring him out of it (p.
447). As to the Green Way, it is the New Law (p. 447) ;
and the Strait Way shows that they who are in it» wish
not to leave it, but to obey God's commandments, which
forbid sin. The Green Trees are the Pastors of Holy
Church. The Voice calling all people to come and eat»
is God*s Grace (p. 447). The Well in the Mountain ia
God on his Throne, and the Unction of Baptism. The
City is Paradise. The refusal to admit Label, whea
unwasht) into the City, shows that he cannot be God's
child till he is christend (p. 448^. The desert lands are
Label*s wicked works (p. iiify The dark black house

' See in the French text, note ', p. 449, the exposition of
the Serpent^ its blindness, its flying to the Red Sea, and the

CH. XXXIII.] RING label's VISION, BAPTISM, AND DEATH. 439

is Hell, to which Label will go unless he amends his
life (p. 460).* Label promises to do whatever Celi-
dojme tells him (p. 451). Celidoyne bids him go to
a hermit in a forest close by, and be baptizd. Label
says he is willing, but asks his knights what they advise.
They declare that they will not forsake their faith
(p. 451). Celidoyne then dresses Label in poor clothes^
and they go off to the hermit's abode (p. 452). They
reach it at night, and the hermit is surprisd to see
them; but embraces Celidoyne, and rejoices to hear the
cause of their coming (p. 452). All night he teaches
Label what belongs to holiness (p. 453), and tells of the
lives of holy men (p. 464).^ On the morrow the hermit
fills a hollow stone with water, puts the king in it and
baptises him (p. 455). He then asks the king's fol-
lowers if they will be baptizd. They say No. Label
is clothed In a white robe, and thanks Celidoyne for
saving him (p. 455). He then tells his knights that he
forsakes them, and will take to his new life (p. 456).
They are cast down at this, but seize Celidoyne, and carry
him off (p. 457). He tells Label to remain with the
hermit, and not to fear for him, as his God will protect
him from all perils. On the morrow, Label dies, and goes
to the' bliss of heaven, and Christ works miracles for him
on those who seek him (p. 457).

And Anon As In Slep^ he was falle, King Label hM

A wondir Aviciown he hadde with-alle ;

that ho Entred In to An hy weye

Whiche was brod & large ful Sekerlye, 4 he !• on ■ broad

And so with men it was vsed to fore^

Where-offen he Merveilled wondir sore ;

Where As mochel peple there was fuii of man,

Lawntynge that weye and that plas, 8

passage thereof by the Israelites, and the Serpent's change of
colour ;

- ' And, note \ p. 450, the reason of Label's sister being in
Paradise.

' The French text makes Label tell the hermit a former
Vision of his (p. 453), — how he was summond before a judge to
answer accusations, and could only get three friends to go with
him, of whom one lent him a cloak ; the second took him to a
strange house and left him there ; but the third went with him
to the judge, and producd a writing that cleard him from all
the charges against him. The hermit explains, that the cloak
is a grave-cloth (p. 453) ; the second friend, the relatives who
take a man to the grave, the strange house; but the third

I friend is the record of a man*B good and evil deeds (p. 454). If

the good preponderate, the man is savd ; if not, he goes to the

, dark house of Hell (p. 4^4).

440

KINO LABEL 8 SECOND VISION.

[cn. XXX II L

whom fekmt
linprtMMi ftad
rob.

AMomlymaa
bMn Labol
«oinp«njr,

aud protfeeto bhn
from th« thIovM
who mIi« other
mtn.

Label «nten on a
little path,

and hears a
▼doe Mjing,
* Come, wash,
and {fo to esit in
the Hlffli City,
at Qod bid! you.'

that pere non Man Mihte Entren ne gon

but that be felouna thei were taken Anon,

And In presown Anon I-do,

and alle here good Itaken hem fro. 12

Whan/ie he was Entred Into this weye,
A man by hym sauwh he faste bye,
Whiche semed A man of gret honour,
A semly persone, & ful of Favour, 16

And seide ' he wolde beren me Compenye,
tyl that weye I were past ful Sekerlye.'
So that togederys gonnen they gon ;
the goodman to fore y kyng folwed son ; 20

And Euere hadde the kyng gret drede
how In that weye he scholde spede.
And As he loked hym there Abowte,
he Sawh of thevys A ful gret Rowte, 24

So pat y kynges drede dyde Eveie laste
Tyl that theke weye he were paste ;
For per the thevys token there Every Man
That they Myhten leyn bond vppon. 28

And whanne In this weye long hadde he gon,
Abowtes hym he lokede thanne Anon,
And that man thanne sawh he nowht,
the whiche theke weye hadde him browht. 32

thanne In to A lytel path there Entred he,
The moste delytable that Evere myhte be,
and ful of trees froyt berenge,

Al grene, & ful of flowres, to his semenge. 36

And whan7{e he was Entred Into this plas,
A wondirful vois him thouhte ther was,
** Cometh & wascheth, ^e pleple Echon,
And to joure Mete thanne schole je gon 40

Aboven In that hye Cyte ;
For \>er f* tables Al redy they be,
and swete Metes for 30W I-dyht ;
thus sente 30W to seyne the lord most of myht." 44

OH. ZXXIII.]

KIKO LABEL'S 8E0OND VlSIOy.

4U

The kjng, that desired sore to knowen of this,
Wliethir his sorwe scholde han Ony Ende I-wys ;
And As he wolde han Enqwered of hem tho,
Faste to fom hym thanne Gonne7i they go ; 48

and so folwede he faste Certayne
tyl that he Cam to An hy Mowntayne,
the heyest that Evere say he to fore
From the tyme that he was hore ; 52

On whiche Mountayn was A welle,
The fairest that Evere he herde of telle ;
and there they weschen Everychon
that to y Mete In that Cite scholde gon ; 56

hut the kyug, wysch there not he,
bat Aftir that Compenye faste gan he fle.

And whanne to the gates they comen Echon,
Of that Cy te, they Entred Anon ; 60

Alle that Evere hadde waschen Atte welle
To that Cite weren welcomed ful snelle,
Where As gret loye they hadden there
In Manye A worschepful diuev's Mane^-e. 64

Thanne the kyng Anon Entren wolde he,
but therto hadde non Maner of powste.
thanne Axede he of the porter Anon,
* Why that In to the halle he ne myhte gon.'
thanne Answerid the porter A^eyn,
" for ])(>u wost not waschen thin hondys In Certein
At the welle, As Other han don,
^ei'loTQ here-Inne schalt fon not gon. 72

For non Man, but ^if he Clene be,
Into this halle Entreth not he.''

And the kyng, that ful of sorwe was,
Atte A weket loked In to that plas, 76

and sawh his soster that he hadde slayn,
Atte the hygh table Sitten Certain,
And with A chapelet vppon hire hed,
ful of precious stones In that sted ; 80

Label goen tct ■
high mounUlD.

His eompanloiM

WMhj

bat he doean't.

At the gat M
of the City,

all who have
wasbt are
weloorod.

68 But Label can't

get in beeanae he
baan't washt.

Heaeeahis
alster whom
hemnrderd,
at the high

442 KINO LABKL's 8BC0KD VI8X0N. [oH. XXXUI;

And bim thoohie hii« neo^re so fiiir £r

be A thousendfold As sche was iher.

And wlianne sche sawh he beheld hin so,
LaiMi*t tiitOT Sche seide, ** so, wasche the As we ban do, 84

watb. And ]wmne scbalt ^a with vs atte Mete be,

And ben I-semd with alle deynte."

Whanne the kyng beheld Al this Manere,

That he ne myhte not ben Besceyved there, 88

Hi toTM to gok Anon his weye he turnede Ageyn

that same weye that he cam Certein ;
bvt, hftHiif no but waideyn thanne hadde he non,

whanne thoruh this medwe he scholde gon. 92

thtthiMwiaj thanne Cam this peple there Anon,

holdoflibn,

and yppon hym leyden bond Echon,

tbat of his deth nenere was he so sore Aferd

Sethen he Cam In-to Middillerd. 96

thanne he Axed hem Everichon,

* Why they leyden bond hym vppon.'

'' For we welen so, I telle it the ;
■«]i«riMb«ioiict For thou Art Al oure In Every decre, 100

And with vs now scbalt thou go,

In to what place we welen leden y to."

** thanne drowen they me forth Anon

be the her & be y hondes, & forth gonne gon ; 104

and be the feet they drowen me faste
and drag Mm to to An boWs In A valeye Atte laste,

a foal booM in n

wild vaitoy, the whiche was wastful & wilde ;

and In that bows, Meyne that was vn-Mylde, 108

For it was so fowl, so hydous, forto be-holde,

that Erthely man was neuere so bolde

that bous to Entren to discrye,
fbUoffiiui, It was so ful of filtho and velonye, 112

and wondir blak it was therto,
and weepings Ful of wepinges & Cryenges as it myhte go : '*

and crylnga*

and Al this the kyng In Avisioun Say,

that for drede he deyde nygh that day. 116

CH. XZXIII.] LABEL WAKES IN TBRBOB, AND ASKS FOB OBLIDOYNB. 443

And whanne him thouhte In his Aviciown
that Into ^ai hous they wolden han throwen him down.
And for drede Anon wook he there, i«aM wakM

And wondirly Cryde, & in An hy Manere, 120 uMicriMoat

for bsto.

And Seyde, " help now, I nam but ded

but ^if ich have Ony other Eed.**

And thus Cryde he with so An hy A yoys

that he Made Kiht A wondirful Noys, 124

So that Alle his lordis and Baronye m* lords nw

hcrden how wondirly that he gan to Crye,

And to hym Konnen they Alle Anon

Forto weten what so he wolde don. 128

there fownden they him In his bed liggense, »^ And him

As A Man that Made wel Mochel Momenge,-^
Neuere Man So mochel Made to here mynde, —
which stoned hem Alle In here Kynde, 132

For Al day Merye they hadden ben.
But whanne the kyng thus gonite they sen,
Astoned fowle weren they alle,
What of this Mater Myhte befalle. 136

Thanne tweyne that with him weren most preve,
To hym they Comen ful Softele,
and seiden, *' Sire, what may sow Aylle, Twoaakhim

" ^ ^ ' what's Um

Ofer what Manere thing dyde jow Asaille," 140 mattMr.

For they knewen, be his Cryenge,
that he was Aferd In his dremcnge.

thanne seide he to hem Anon there
That thike tyme Abowtes him were, 144

* That there Say Neuere Erthly man R« nj» no man

has Man mdi

So Merveillous Syhtes as he Sawh than ; ' sif hu as ha has.

" where-fore I schal neuere blithe be

Tyl there offen I knowe the Certeinte. 148

Now to fore me brinff forth Celidoyne, ceiidojiiamost

. bs bCchi to him

That myn Other Avision declared Certeine ; atonca.

and ^if of this he telle me As vcrravUy

As he of the tother dyde trewly, 152

444 OKUDOTNI PB0MI8BS TO EXPLAIN LABEL's TISIOM. [CH. XXXllI.

•ad bring him to
UMKinf,

who uki him to
uplaln irh«t ho
•haU un bim.

C*li<lo]rn« Mj-t
h*wiU,

byOod'tholpt

bat If Uhel
won't ob«y him,
ho'U go to h«U.

L«bel kneeli
to Colldoj'M^

what thing he wele Comanden me to
At his Owne ville, I wyle it now do.**

So to thiB child thanne gonnen they go,
that I[n] A pavilown On elepe was tho ; 156

And him A-woken ful tendirlye,
For that to the kyng he Moate hye.
and the Child him dressed vp Anon,
And to fom the kyng thanne Gan he gon. 160

& whanne the kyng on y child gan looke,
Gret Comfort thanne to him he tooke ;
" Now, Maister," quod the kyng thanne,
" As I holde the, most wysest manne 164

that enere Sawh I of thin Age,
And that bora Is of so hygh parage,
I preye ^ow that je wolden tellen me
Of that I schal )ow schewen, the Certeinte." 168

" Sire," quod Celidoyne, " I wele ful gladly ;
but not be myn owne wit, sire, trewly,
but As I am Enfonned of the Maister Above,
Whiche that thou Owhtest wel forto love, 172

and for thow wost not leven his word be me.
There-fore sore blamed schalt thou be.
For whanne thou Come to that Cite
Which In thy Slepe was schewed to the, 176

3if that thow wylt Entren there,
Thou Most don As I schal the lere ;
And but thou wilt Aftir me don so,
To Enddes dirknesse eUea schalt thou go, 180

To that dirk hous, ful of teres & sorwe,
Endelesly to dwelle, ))at no man schal the borwe."

And whanne the kyng herd hym spekcn so,
On knes Aforn hym down fyl he tho, 1 84

& seide, " Al that Evere thou seyst me here,
I knowe it verrayly In Eche Manere,
And that thou Art hy with god Above,
I knowe ful wel he doth the love, 188

CH. ZXXIII.] CELIDOTNB EXFOUNDS LABEL*8 SECOND VISION. 445

So what that Evere tho[a] Comandest Me,

I schal it fulfyllen fol Certeinle.

For thou hast told me verraillye

That In myn Avicion I sawh Certeynlye." 192

" 30," quod Celidoyne Anon ryht tho,
*' 3it More schal I tellen the £r that I go :
I schal the schewen the Signefiaunce
Of Al thin Avicion with-owten variaunce, 196

So that the bottere thou schalt me leve.
For that swiche thinges I schal p* preve : —

" The grete weye that thou there Sye,
Signefieth the old lawe Sekerly, 200

Where that so gret peple to forn han gon
As thou hast herd tellen of Many on ;
and swich As grete Maistres were,
And wolde not vndirstondin ^* -peple to lere^ i204

but let hem Gon to Alle wrechchednesse,
to filthes, and synne, And vnkendenesse,
So that Every day that Cursede En^my
To hym hem draweth by and by,
And Casteth hem In to helle anon, —
As wel good as bad thedir wente?i Echon, —
lo this Enemy is to Signefye,

that be the weyes lyn so aparttly 212

For to taken hem that passen therby,
this signefieth the devel ful trewly.

" Now [be] this weye that thou hast Seyn,
* the olde lawe' vndirstonde thou ful pleyn ; 216

and be the Kobberis that ben there,
vndirstonde thou the devel In Ech Manere ;
And be the faire Man that with the wente,
vndirstonde thou Crist veramente ; 220

There God Of the hadde pyte,
And In that dredful weye Governed the,
80 that thyn Enemyes hadden non power
In Non wyse forto Neyhen the there. 224

mnd vows to do
aU iM Uda him.

Calidojne then
•xpoonds Label's
Seeond Vialon i-^

tho Broad Wa j
is tha Old Uw,

bj which tha

n A o ^^11 C"*^ ™M
2Uo IntohaU.

Tha Bobbara who
aeixa men,
anthaDaTlL

Label's eom*
panlon laChrlaL

446 CSUDOTMI EXPOUNDS ULBEL's SECOND VISION. [CH. XXXIII.

Latei OHM took For of him Ones liaddest thou py te,
maA N there fore so hath he now of the ;

And wistest thoa neu^re what pete was

thike tyme In that same plas. 228

" Now haae I told the Al In fei«

Of that fairs Man, In this Manere,
chiMMiiim that In that weye Gowndered the
thknm. Among Alle tho thevys fid Sekerle ; 232

)it A Notliir Hesoon I schal the Schewe

To fom Al this peple yppon A rewe,

be the grete weye tliat is so wyde

I schal the declaren At this tyde. 236

** thou sixt wel whanne A schips is w/tA-Inne,
At A tbip wttii- And to the Se goth, and may not blynne,

And hath nethir Maister ne Govemottr

That schipe to Steren In that stowr ; 240

And whanne fer into the Se Is he go,
taatthoiMny and with the wynd beten bothe to & fro,

of WlBd Mid WSTOf

Tyl Amyddes the see that he be,
that brod & large Is Onne to se, 244

there Nib non Man that him Socoure May,
Sauf Only God that is verray )
This Owhtest thow to vnrdirstondyn here
Of the weye of Synneris In this Manere. 248

■o It a chritcitii " For Auou As A Cristen man In Ony weye

who't ftmoktn

UtCntior. Forsaketh his Creatour, Serteinlye

thanne hath he broken this weye Anon

that thou Sie Alle the folk Inne gon ; 252

thanne taken they bothe leye & lycense

Forto folwen the develis p*6conse,

And thanne scholen they haven Compenye

that weye to gon ful Sekerlye, 256

and here flessches lust to fulfille,

and leven the goode wey, & taken the yUe

Aftir the develys CownsaiUe,

that Nothing may hem A-vaylle. 260

OH. XXXIII.] CELIDOTNB EXPOUNDS LABEL's SECOND VISION. 447

And In this weye, She kyng label,

hast thou longe gon, thou wost ful wel ;

but now at this Manere of Comenge,

And thow wilt, tl^ou schalt hauen Comfortynge 264

Of him that the best helpen he May,

[He] Schal the Owt Bringe this solve day.

''jit schal I more to the here declare CiMf4i]

Of the grene weye that thou sye thare : 268 tim onm w«j

to tiM N«w Lav.

' The newe lawe' it doth Signefye,

that Everiday Encresith certeinlye.

And the streite weye that was there,

Signefieth of hem that there Inne were, 272

[they] hadden [no] leve forth there to gon,

that Goddis Comaundement fulhlden Echon,

And of holy chirche Also thanne,

In }fat wey wente swich maner of Manne. 276

" lo, this Goddis Comandement Is,
that non Child of holy chirche Iwys
Scholde Erren Ajens his Creatour
be non manere of wise, for non dolour, 280

Ke nethir to don non dedly Synne,
Ne vsen non Coveitise ne^er more ue Myn;«e ;
And forsaken Envye Also therto,
jif Aftir god & trowthe thou wilt do ; 284

Ne be non thouht to fallen In to synne,
but Evere the Byht weye hold the with-Inne.

" The Trees that be that grene weye stoden Abowte, tim tnm hr tb«
' pastours of holy Chirche' it signeficn wttAowten dowte, pMton ofHoir
that Alle Abowtes the world don gon, 289

The holy vangelye forto vndon.

** The voiB that thou herdest Clepen there, Tb« Toiee ipMh.

lac te tnsn to

Signefieth 'goddis Mercy' In Echo Manere, 292 Ood'i Hetty.

that Clepith Synneris that Synne han forsake.

And lust that to his Servise han hem take,

And behotyih hem Al Manure of delicasye

That to ony Mannes wyt May Applye. 296

448 CEUDOTVB EXPOUNDS LABEL*8 8BC0ND TISION. fCH. XXXIIK

Th« W«ll In t)M
Mo jnuin U Ood
OB htoTiaroo*.

Th« Won It <ald
tho UdcUod of
Boptltm*

Tho High Gltj on
tho MoanUla U
Panulbo.

Lober* not being
•bio to got in at
the gttoi booooeo
ho hiidn't WMht,

neona thot nono

coo MITOOod

nnletM he la
ohriatond.

Be that welle, yndirBtonde thou here,
Whicho In that Mowntayne thoa sye there,
that is to Signefye Euere ' god Alone^*
That Ahoven Sitteth In his trone, 300

tho wheche is the heyest lord & kyng,
and lieyghest he is ouer Alle Maner thing ;
Which is sene be his Bownte,

And be many Miracles In diu^srs d^gre 304

Whiche he wrowhte In this world here ;
For ou^ Alle Erthly men he hadde powcre,
And Aboven Alle Other heyest is he,
lik As yai Mowntayn Aboven oper semed ^* to be : 308
and lik As that Mowntayn Aboven therthe was,
So Ib Grod heyghest In Every plas.

'' & for that Cause the welle Icleped It is
' The vnctiouA of Baptesme ' wttA-owten Mis, 312

Wheche was be goddis Ordenaunce,
And God it fulfilde to his plesaunce,
There sye thow god In Maieste
that toward this welle browhte the. 316

" And that Cyte that So fair & swete was,
vndirstonde thou ' paradys' In this plas,
Where that god Maketh his hyghe feste
To alle his beloved, bothe leste and Meste. 320

" And vndirstonde thou here-by Also,
that whanne In Atte gates thou myhtest not go.
For thou Nost waschschen In non Manere
Atte welle, As other diden there, — 324

perioTe it signefieth In this degre
That Goddis Seriaunt ne myht pon not be,
Nethir non Child of holy Chirche,
but )if Oj>erwise that yon wilt wirche, 328

And that I-Cristened that thou be,'
)if thow wilt Ony of these festes se.

''And for the bettere pou. scholdest han me in
creaunce, 331

OH. XXZIII.] CELIDOTNE EXPOUNDS LABEL'S SECOND VISION. 449

Al this I the telle with-owten Enqwerau7ice.

And fen so longe In sweveny/zg thou hast be,

In schort processe I haue declared it to the ; 334

And there fore leve me 3if thou wilt,

And but )if po\i do, thou schalt be spilt.

" Al this, Sie thow, kyng Label, Tiiii vuion of

n Label's,

In thyn Avicioun Everydel, 338

Whiche thou woldest neuere to man discure,

for pou wendist that neucre Creature

Of non Manure Erthly londe

Cowde it the don to vndirstonde : 342 Godh«»eniibid

Celidoyne to

but As the hyghe Maister Enformed hath me, Mpiun.

I haue the told In Eche degre.

" Be the wastful lawndes, haue vndirstondyng xiie De««rt Land*

iiTAiii_' oi/» *ro Kin* Label's

* Thy wykked werkys In Alle thing 346 wicked works.

that thou hast don Al thy lyre

Sethen thou were bom In wo & stryre.

therfore Cristened loke that thou be,

3if thou wilt ben holpen In Ony degre. ^ 350

^ Par le serpent, dois tu entendre Ics males oeures, Tiie senwnt
et toi meisme. Car sans faille tu ies drois sarpens et SimMir, !!lko has
drois anemis ; Car tu ne fesis onques chose se peu non °*^'" ***>"• «**<*•
qt/i a no^^ signoKr pleust. Et che qi/e il ne veoit goute, its not leHnir.
senefie ke tu ies auules ; Car, se tu ueisses uraiement, ?JJJuJiiwi!id-
tu^ n'eusses pas tant demoure el pechie com tu as. Et "•*■•
che que li serpens uoloit trusc'a la rouge mer, senefie
toi qui uoleras. Ch*est a dire, ke tu cnterras en le its flying to the
sainte eue, et en la boineuree, ke on apiele boptesme, LluST'gSing to
et serras oirs ihesvL crist, et fiex ausi, com li autre sont *»pt"™-
qui au saint baptesme sont uenu.

Par la rouge mer ke nostie sires a ouuri iadis as The bringing the
fiex isra^l, dois tu^ entendre le baptesme ou li se[r]gant t!l*'Reds«ir"**'
ihe^'u crist sont purefiiet, el sont oste des mains as [a]-
nemis p^rdu rabies, tout ausi com lifil ysraelfurent oste menns the rescue
des mains es egyptiiens. Par la rousee de la mer, dois Mi^antVfrom the
tu entendre le boineure sane qui issi del boineure coste ^^^ ^' baptism,
au p?Yyphete dont iou parole. Et tout ausi com 11 fil Tiie Israelites
ysra^l furent peu de Taumosne qu*il lor enuoia es desers promi'^S.rnd,
iusc'a tant qa'il vinrent en terre de promission, Ch'est "•^^ "*•*'

* MS ke to, leaf 65, back, col. 3 ' leaf 67.

GRAAL. 29

450 CELIDOTNB EXPOUNDS LAB£L*S SECOND VISION. [CH. XXXIII.

Th« D»rk Black ** Now forthemioro I schal the telle,

HouM U UcU,

that dirk blak hows signefyeth * helle ' ;
To wheche place AI Miscreaunt

A tie the day of dom schal ben here haunt ; 354

To whiche Ostel that Is so blak,
whan ubtiii At that dom Gost thow with-owten lak ;

fo for eter milMi

iM fpmtM, but ^if it In this world thou it Amende,

Ellis thedir gost thou with-owten £nde : 358

And so In this world myht thon don here
To blisse to Comen, that hath non pere."*
" Now, Certes," quod kyng label tho,

King LaM " Merveillously hast ^u this mdo. 362

And ^it more merveilloiLS is that lord
that to the hath discouered Every word ;
And but he were Myhtiere thanne oper be,
this Mihte he Keue7*e han schewed to the. 366

aiuininff th« jojt a dire, qu*il vendront a la ioie de paradis qui ia ne

** faura, et ch'est la te?Te qui lor fu prc^mise. Che que \i

The Mriwnt't serpens fu mues en coulori, senefie la muanche qui sera

dove^mMtia* faite de toi se tu viens a baptesme. Car de chest saint

tkrouRVBaptum, lauement seras tu mues d*anemi en ami ihesM crist, et

ih?^riandof ** ^® ®®^ ®^ franc ; Car illuec seras tu mues et deslies dea

chriat. loiiens as morteus gaiteours. Or t'ai descouuert, rois

label, ton songe, ke tu onqu^s ne descouuris a home

mortcL Or piies sauoir ke chil seit auqu^s de tea afairea

qui che m'a deinoustre.

nsptiBtn la the * " Et sans recheuoir baptesme," fait li rois, " puet

on y way . ^^^ yeuir a chele hauteche ne a la chite ou iou vi

Label's iUteT mencT si grant ioie." " Chertes," fait celidoines, "nenil."
becauM shTdied *' Coumeut,'' fait li rois, ''fu che dont ma suer, qt/i
a chriBtian, faisoit susi gj-ant ioie comme li autre 1 " " Che vous
haring been dirai iou bien," fait celidoines. " Sachies ke vo«fre
i««raphe, who sucr mourut crestieue, et rechut baptesme de la main
forest of 'ioKfte. sewiphe Termite, qui maint en vne forest ke on apiele
uS'd*to kiu"^^*"'* * maube.' Et chele fores soloit estre habitee meruilleuse-
peopie, tin the ment dc serpens qui ochioient les gens ; Mais puis .v.
drove oat*^'°* aus n*en i fu nus veus. Et seis tu qwe* ele fu witlie de
Termin. j^ vermino par la venue des preudomes qui a chel iour

se vinrent herbergier en la forest."

•^MS q»/ant, xiv E iii, leaf 66, col. 2.

ClI. XXXIU.] KINO LAB£L DECLARES HE WILL BE BAPTIZD.

451

Where fore to liim only I me take,

And A lie myn Olde werkes I forsake ;

And what that Evere )e Comanden me to,

At 30urc byddyng I wele it do." 370

" thanne schol I tellen f *," Celidoyne gan say,
" thus me hath Schewed the Maister varray,
hos Seriawnt I am ful prest,

that here besides In this forest 374

dwelleth An holy Ermyt, and of good lif,
and f ej-to A prest with-owten stryf.
Go we to hym streyht Anon,

Cristendom to don the vppon,^ 378

that I have to the Spoken of to fore,
forto Entren In to that Cite thore,
To that hygh worthy feste,

In paradis to dwellen vfiih lest Si meste." 382

*' Certes," quod the kyng tho,
" Al this I am Redy forto do."

Thanne Axede this kyng Anon Byht
Of duk, Erl, barown. And knyht, 386

^if they wolden Conceillen him ^erto,
this Manere thing Al forto do.
**For weteth wel In Certayn,

that In Myn hertc I schal neu^ie be fayn 390

Tyl I-Cristened that I be,
As Celidoyne here Enformeth Me.*'

thanne Answered they him A3eyn,
' that wold they neuere In Certein 394

Ke not departen from here lay,
No more thanne here fadres be Olde day.*
" leve,^ sire kyng,*' quod Celidoyne tho,

' AloDS a lui, si te feras baptiser et laver en la sainta
ODde. — A.

' '* Signour," dist celidoines, '' or le laissies donqu^.
Car se vous le fesissies a forche, il ne xous vauroit mie
grantment. Yotu remanres ichi comme sergant al anemi
ei poeure de sens et garni de mal ensient. Et li rois s*en

tarna to God,
foraakeff hit
old wt-rkft,
and will do
wbataver Celi-
doynt bids hiiu.

Celidoyne tella
Label tu get
ttaptizd at once
byaheimit ina
forest near.

Label asVa hia
lords if they
advise liim to
doit:

he can nerer be
happy till he's
christend.

Label's lords
reftise to give np
their old tUlh.

The barons will
stay, as venrants
oftbederil.

432 hSUEL GOES WITH CEUDOTKE TO THE HER3UT. [CH. XXXIII.

((

Cy litloyiic puta
po«>r clothM oa
L.4bel,

and thf 7 go

For A^ens hero wil it sclial not be do." 398

Thanne CeliUoyne this k}Tig vnclothed Anon,
and powre Clothes dyde liym vppon ;
* For he ne woKle In no» Manere
that 60 to forn him lie Come there 402

In non Man<*r of swich Aray
that signelieth to pride in Ony way,'
*' but As In lowuesse And In humylite
8o to forn him Comen scholen je." 406

Auon the kyng dyde his Comandement,
And with hym wente with good Entent.
And from here pavilouns they partyd Ajion,
& forth thorwgh the forest gonne they gon, 410

That so forth to Gederis wenten they faste,
tyl Into A gret valey they comen Atte laste ;
And so longe to-Gyveris they wente,
Tyl that the day was AI Lspente ; 414

So that it happed hem be Grace
That to thermyt they comen In pat place,
And Clepeden At his dore Anon,
and thus sone he gan it vndon. 418

thanne fnl gret Merveille pis hermyt hadde,
What man^r of thing thedyr hem ladde,
And what they sowhten In that strau?2ge place,
thike peple that thedir Comen wase ; 422

For fully A mou7tthe to fom that day,
Neuere Man ne womman ne child he ne say.

And whanne the dore was thus vndon,
Celidoyne Entred thanne In Anon, 426

and beknew that Cristencd he was,
"Whiche was to thermyt A loyful Cas ;

Label will partira eomme fiex et oirs de ihe^u, si puis vraiement dire

ft^m'uie^iio/vS— c^ue liostie sircs par sa misericorde a oste Taigniel d'entre

Christ.'**'^ ®' les leus, sans che qu*il n*i a este estranles ne deuoures."

Et il li demandent, "qt/i sont li leul" "votw estes,"

fait il, '* li leu ; et chil sont deuenu aigniel qui a dieu

se tienewt."

to thf hermU't

cell.

Celidoyne is
welcomd by the
Henult,

CH. XXXIII.] CELIDOYNE TELLS THE HERMIT ALL ABOUT KING LABEL* 453

So Ech of hem Othir Embracen began,

and An hundred Sithes they kisten than. 430

" Faire sone," quod this Ermyt tho,

" Into Manye stronge place schalt pan go,

And goddis Pyler thow 3chalt ben,

To helpe forto vndirsette Al oris ten." 434

thanne Celidoyne [spak] Anon Ageyn,
And told him Al the Cas In Certein^ to whom he tciu

., . King Label'n CHBe,

Also Al the cause of here Comenge, and says umt he

this kyng to Cristendom forto bringe. 438 him.

thann hadde this Goodman gret loye of this,

that he scholde A sowle wynnen to blis,

and seide that he wolde with good wille

on p* Morwen here Axeng to fulfille. 442

AUe that Nyht hadden they here talkyng,
that to alle holynesse ivas bclongeng ; '

1 MS xiv E. Ill, leaf 56, col. 3 at foot, adds, Et tant LabeUdce the

que li rois dist, "Sire, pour dieu, d'une auision qui i^v'iwon^fhfir'"
m*auint, n'a pas lone ta72s, me dites uerite se vous en estes

chertains." " Dites," fait li preudom, " et ie uous enseig- •Tea/aayathe

nerai che que nostre sires m*a cnseignie." "Sire," fait L^wfteiiait,—

11, " il m'estoit auis ke i'estoie semons a plait deuant .i. lli^^fS'ir""

,» • .. X • • • J aummond berore

nche home yei'S qui i estoie accuses, lou ne sai de ques • fic^ "»*" ^
gens. Et qi^ant iou deuoie aler au plait, iou scmounoie awnsd; aoi
tous mes amis et chiaus qui iou auoie semis, que il me Jrienda'to^wme
uenissent aidier. Mais tout me falirent ne mais que ^lonl^^^'
troi; et li vns de ches trois me prcstoit .i. mantiel a <-«ni6i of whom
afu[b]ler, pour chou ke toutes uoies ne m'esco7?desi8t ; dMk*"«nd*tbe
et h. secons me conduisoit trusc'a vne maison ke ie jri^trlngle Soum
n*auoie onqw^s tele veue, et me laissa dedens. Li tiers «»? left me there;

^ . ^ 1 • 1 . 1 1 A but the third

venoit auoec moi trusqzt^s chies Ie nche home, et mos- went with me to
troit .i. escrit et vne chartre qwi m*aquitoit de toutes ind produc'SV
les choses ke li riches hom me demandoit, si ke ma JiMni mefrom
pais estoit faite enucrs chelui a qui i*estoie acuses. Sire, *" t^© chargca.
tele fu m'avisions que ie vi, n'a pas enchore lone tans. Teii me tiie
Or, si vous pri ke vous m'ew dites la uerite se \ou8 Ie "***"*"* ^^ ••
saues." "Chertes," fait li preudom, "volentiers. Li The hermit
mantiaus ke on te prestoit, rois label, senefie la poure dlik^^man's*
uesteure ke on done a uestir Voinme ke on met en terre. k™^®-^'®**'*
Chou est li darrains mantiaus ; et chelui gariiiment
apieloit on 'suairc.' Chelui doit en apieler *le mortel

454

THE HERMIT TELLS LABEL OF HOLT HEX. [CH. XXX II L

Tho Hermit teUt So that Al Kyht tilis good man Gan hem preche.

Label of the live* *,«,, i •• « .■•

ormartyn. And of holj mennes lyves he gan hem teche.

446

The mcond frtend
in the relative*
who take the
corpae to the
grave.

Tlie strange hoaee
la the grave.

afublail/ et maintes fois est chis gamimens dones^ pour
cheus qui s'en uont Li secons amis qui te connoioit
trusc'a la maison, senehe les parens a chelui qui est tres-
passes, qui conduisent le cors del mort trusc'a la fosse.
La fosse doit hien par droit estre apielee ' maisons
descouneue.' Car nous ki en cheste uie somes, ne
sauo;7S ke nous trouuerons, ne ne le counissons enchors
de riens ; et q»ant nous i entrons, ne sauons enchore
qwe dire ; et donq?/es doit on "b/cn apieler chele maisoii,
* maison descouneue,* et maison dont on ne voit nule
autrestele. £t li tiers amis, rois label, qui au pcirestroit
te faisoit compaignie, et moustroit pour toi une chartre
qui t'aquidoit [sic] de toutes les choses qwe li riches horn
te demandoit, seneiie les boines oeures ke li hom a fait
en sa vie, et est ausi com li boins clers legistres qvi
hardiement defifent le cause son ami, et maine a boiiie
fin. Li fil, et les filles, et li autre parent, laissent en
la fosse chelui qui il co/zuoient a ami, et en auant d'iluec
ne li font cowtpaignie. Qui respondera po«r hii de
qi^anqu*il ot el siecle, de qt/anqu'il sot, de qtianqu'il
pot ? II n'en portera riens de sa rikeche deuant loi,
fors seulemey^t vne chartre ; et en chele chartre ara
escrit quaTzqu'il onq^/es fist de mal et de bien. £t s'ii i
a plus de b/en ke du mal, li bi^ns alegera Tome, et le
deliuera de quanqe/^s on li demandera. Et s'il i a plus
du mal ke du bien, li maus qui tons iours apoise et
atere Tome, le traira aual, si ke chil tresbuchera en la
tenebreuse maison d'iiifcr. Eois label, or t'ai deniaei
[sic] si rc/Twme iou croi de ton songe la senefiauche. Ore
mo di s*il to samble ke iou en ai uoir dit." " Chertes,'*
fait li rois, *• II n*a home en chest siecle au mien ensient
qui mieus le m'eust deuise, se chil meismes ne li en-
seignast ke on apiele ilie^u crist. Or n*est il hom el
siecle, s'il I'entendoit ausi com iou Tenteng tout, qtd
mieus n'en vausist tons les iours de sa vie. Car or sai
iou bten qu*il n'est diex fors chil ke vous aoures. Car
il seus counoist la verite de tout le monde. Ne nus
autres, au mien quidier, n*en puet riens sauoir, s'il ne li
est descouuert par la uirtu de chest saint signeur qui
tout puet sauoir." " Chcrtes/* fait li preudom, " vous
dites voir sans faille." [The Addit. MS 10,292 also
has this Vision, leaf 40, back, col. 3.]

Tlie third Mend
1r the good work!
thnt the dead man
did while he Hvd.

which lire like a

good lawyer who

wins hli (Hend't

cause.

A man'a relatives

leave him in the

grave.

Who then ahall
answer for him P
He has no riches,
but one writing
of all his deeds
evil and good ;
and, if there are
more good than
evil, the gotxl
shall clear him
fh>m all trespass;
but if there are
more evil than
good, the evil
shall drag him to
the dark nouse
of hell.

Have f not in-
terpreted your
dretim right?*
Label answers,
* Tes, and no one
could have told
yott but Jesiu.

And T know that
He hIodo is Ood,

for He nlone
knows the ti nth,
and none c»n
know If but by
His power.'

MS dones pour plus.

cu. xzxiii.] label's lords refuse to change their faith. 455

that for Crist Suffrede Tormentis liarde,

And to the Blisse of lievene wen ten Aftirwarde ;

So that Evcre tlie kyng for loje he wep«,

That of Al theke Nyht he ne slepc. 450

Vppon the Morwen, whanne it was lyht,
Tliennyt his Matynes seide Anon Ryht ;
and wlianne his Matynes weren I-do,
A fair ston ful Kedy Made he tho, 454

And there with water he gan it ^e.
thanwe Anow the kyng he Clepid him Tylle,
& made him don Of his Clothes Anon,
And there Into that ston forto gon. 458

Anon there 3af he hym ful Crystenynge
holich after holy Chirche^ werkynge.
Whanne the kyng thus Cristened was there,
his Xame nolde he Chongc In non Manere; 462

For of faireuesse it hadde Semblaunce,
Wherfore fere olfen nolde he maken non variaunce.

Whanne this Good Man hym Cristened hadde so,
Anon hem gan he forth Clcpen tho
that with hym Comen In Compenye,
And Axede hem there Anon In hye,

* ^i£ that they wold en Cristened be

lik here lord was, As sche^ niyhte se,' 470

thanne Answerid they Anon Ageyn,

* that wolde they ^eiiere don In Certein ;
For they wolden Keuere Chonge« here lay

That here Fadris helden to fom here day.* 474

thanne this goodmau Eyht Anon
A whit Kobe the kyng aide vppon,
holiche be thermytes Ordenauwce ;
Swich was thanne the kynges Chauwce. 478

thanne Seide the kyng to Celidoyne tho,
" Faire child, fou hast me browht Owt of wo ;
For I am becomen So heyl A man
that non Erthly tonge tellen ne kan. 482

* for they

Next morning

tb« Hermit fills %
atone with water.

and baptlzea
Label in it.

466 The Hermit

then aska Label's
lonls if they'll be
beptizd.

ThejrreAise.

Label thinks

4^6 LABEL FORSAKES HIS LORDS. [cH. XZXIIL

For me semetli now In My syht,
h«*t in i)M brisfat that I am At theke Cy te so bryht
M« ui« ffTMt where that I say the grete feste

Of manye peple, bothe lest & Meste, 4S6

Where As I was put Away Anon Ryht,

that Into the halle Entren I ne Myht,

For that I wysch not In Certeyne

Atte the welle vppon the Mownteyne." 490

Thanne seide the kyng to his Compenye

that thedir with hym Comen Certeinlye,

** Lordynges, that In Myn Compenye ban be,

and In Travaille and In Adrersite, 494

and welen not beren me Compenye

Now at this tyme feythfullye

there As I am In a loyful lyf.

And 3e dwellen stille In wo & stryf ; 498

L»M tagukm hollchc Alle I tow forsake,

hill lorda, '

And to this lif I wele me take ;
•nd Mjrt ht'ii For with ^ow schal I neue?^ go

iitTer rrturn to i^ i-r/^ n tt

Ptnia. Into the Cuntre that I Cam fro. 502

And whanne they herde the kyng thus seyn,
Alle ful wooful they weren In Certeyin,
And seiden that they hadden lost Alle here pray,^
Whanne that the kyng hadde Tomed his lay. 506

So that Owt of tliis hows they wenten Anon,

rh« lords ronfoit And to-GcderiB to Conseil gonne they gon,

If ilftt to do.

And Axeden how that they Scholden do,

that thus the kyng was parted hem fro. 510

thanne Answered Anothir there,

" What Nedith vs lengere to Abyden here ?

for his lay wile he not forsake,

that he hath now hym to I-take, 514

but of hym that Conseil ^af therto,

I/)ke what with hym welen 36 do."

' et dient 'qu'il ont tout perdu, quant lor sires est toumes
a la crestiene loy.' — A,

OH. zxxiii.] label's lords seize celidoyne. label dies. 457

thanne wenten they Into thermytage,
And token Celidoyne with wilde Eage. 518

And whethir that he wolde o)>er Kon,
with hem that Child Moste Nedis gon.
And the kyng defended hem faste ;
Not withstondyng jit forth they paste. 522

thanne seide Celidoyne to the kyng,
** Sire, for me Make je No Momeng.
Sire, of on thyng I wame now the :
Btylle with this good man that thou be, 526

whiche schal the jeven good Consaille
That to thy Sowle schal Availle.
And whedir so Evere thy Men Me lede,
Of hem Certein haue I non drede, 530

Por he that I worschepe and Serve,
From alle perylles he wele me swerve." '

And so, be Celidoynes Cownsaylle,
the kyng left Stylle wM-owte» faille, 534

and on the Morwe with Mylde stevenne
he deyde, and wente to the blisse of hevenrze.
As God wolde haven it, so was it don, ^

For hens to blisse gan he gon. 538

^and sethen for hym Crist Meracle wrowhte
vppon Mochel peple that there hym Sowhte. fstor^'e

And thowgh this Mater and Of ere longe not to pia
3it he that this book Made hath put it in Mcmor}*c^
Forto Maken A Cler Notysyng, 543

And forto declaren so Everithing
More Openly to mannes Mynde,
Al the mater the bettere to bryngen to an Ende :
thus Alle thinges doth he putten In Memor^^e,
he that ferst Made this holy Storye.^ 548

' Car chil en qui seniiche le sai entres, me gardera et
deffendera de tous perieus. — A.

*—' Si fist noBtre Bires puis pourluiniaintbiel miracle, dont
li contes se taist, pour cbou que chele estoire n'apartient pns du
tout a cheste ; Ains apartient a chel liure qui deuiBera les rota
dea persis et les estoires. — A. ' MS memomorye.

ThejMbfl
CeUdoyue,

who Uds Label
not monrn fur
him.

Label uinju with
tlie Hennit ;
diet next
morning;

and goes to the
bllw of heaven.

Qeafa]

458 OKLIBOTMB, NA8CIEN8, AKD MORDaEINB HEBT. [CH. XXXIT.

CHAPTER xxxrvr.

Of the Meeting ■gain of Gelidoyne and Naaciens, and then of
Mordreins with them.* How Labers boet arc angry at
Olidoyne*8 having converted Label ; and they take ooun>
■el to put Gelidoyne to death (p. 459). A knight proposes
to put him into a little boat, with the lion they caught in
the island, and nothing else, and send him out to sea.
They do this (p. 460). Gelidoyne makes the sign of the
Gross over the lion, and tells the men that they shall all
perish, and never reach home (p. 461). Gelidoyne is
blown about the sea with the lion for three daya and
on the fourth he sees the fair Ship with tlie royal Sword
that Nasciens had seen. Gelidoyne boards her, and sees
the Bed, Grown, and Spindles (p. 461). The lion and
boat vanish, and Gelidoyne lies down to sleep (p. 462).
When he wakes, he finds that he is at an isle, and
sees his father Nasciens asleep (p. 462-3). Nasciens
wakes, embraces his son, and they make great rejoicing
(p. 4C3). Gelidoyne tells his father how he escapt
from Galafere, and was carrid to an isle where King
Label was ; and how I^aliel had a vision, and was christ-
end ; and the rest of his adventures. Nasciens thanka
God, and they leave the island. A storm rages for three
days (p. 464), and on the fourth ceases (p. 465) ; they see*
a ship (p. 466), and find Mordreins there (p. 467). Nas-
ciens hails him, and Mordreins issooveijoyd that he cannot
speak, but jumps on board Nasciens's ship, kisses him,
and entreats him to tell his adventures (p. 467). Nasciena
tells how he was imprisond, and by God*s grace brought
to a desert isle which tumd *to and fro' every day and
every night ; also, of his going into a ship that split in
two, and of another ship, and a sweet-q>eaking old man
(p. 466); and all the rest of his tribulations (p. 469).
He tells Mordreins that more wonders shall happen with

' The Additional MS 10,292, fol. 41 b, col. 1, heads this
Chapter : " Ensi que paiens espaignent celidone en la mer en
vne nachele, et auoeo lui J. lion, sans sigle et sans nauiron.**
And begins : ** Ghi dist li contes qui est apeles del saint graal,
et deuise, que quant li roys label f u demoures en Termitage, et
si homme orent pris celidoine, si renmenerent entre lea roches
en leur paueillons."

' According to the French text, an island, with a castle on
It (p. 466). On arriving, they hear a horn sound ; and a giant
comes forth and tells them they must die. Nasciens draws
the Marvellous Sword, and begins to brandish it, when sud-
denly it breaks in two. He then jumps out of the ship (p.
466), finds another sword, runs the giant through with it, goes
back to the ship, and sails away. He reproaches the sword
with failing him at the time of nee<l. Gelidoyne says that some
sin of his fnther^s was the cause of its breaking. They then see
Mordreins'a ship (p. 466),

CH. XXXIV.] label's men plan to punish celidotnb.

i69

ihe Sword. Mordreins admires the Sword ; it breaks ; and
as he holds the blade in one hand, and the pommel in the
other, the two parts join (p. 469). They hear a great noise,
and a voice tells them to go out of the ship. Mord-
reins and Celidoyne do so, but Nasciens is late, and a sword
cuts him through the left shoulder. He swoons (p. 470) ;
the others go to raise him, and weep; he recovers, and
thanks God for thus chastising him as a son (p. 471).
The ship remains beoalmd for four days, and the story
returns [in vol. 2] to the five messengers whom Sarracynte
sent out to find Nasciens (p. 471).

Thanne passeth forth this storye witli-Al

that is Cleped of Som Men " Seynt Graal,"

also the « Sank Ryal " I-Clepid it is

Of Mochel peple with Owten mys ; 4

It telleth how that kyng Labelys Men«

Forth with hem Celidoyne ladden him then.

And to here pavilouns Anon hym browhte,

And there hym to slen thus they thowhte. 8

whan7M that this tydynges was spred Abrod
thorwgh-owt the ost of here lord,
* that he was becomen Cristene Man/
Ful Mochel Sorwe Maden thei than ; 12

As alle here kyn ded hadden be,
Swich sorwe they Made As they myhten se.

thanne seiden they, " we haven that pe/-sone here
that vs hath browht In Al this dwere ; 16

"VVe scholene hym Caste forto Slen
From this Hoche Er we gon hen,
And on hym we scholen Avenged Le
for that he hath don, ful Sekerle.'' 20

thanne Answerede som Ojjere Anon,
** that ful jong he was to deth to gon ;
but Ofer-wise Avenged wilen we be,
And ^it hym Scholen we not Sle."

On Many tormentis they hem be-thouhte,
how that he Myhte to deth be browhte.
thanne spak A knyht> and seide ful wel,
that Any kynnesman was to kyng label,* 28

et tant ke vns parens le roi label lor dist. — A.

Label's men take
Celidoyne to Uiclr
tents.

•aA rMohretolie
iviriii|4on liiin«

24

A klntman of
LaUl'i propoMt

460 CIUBOTKI IB PUT OUT TO SKA WITH THE U05. [CH. XXXIT.

" I achal jov Certefyen Anon Ejht
bow that 36 scbolen to deth hym djbt.
And vppon hym to leyn non bond.
Lestenetb to Me, And yndirstond ; 32

Taketb on of )owie Fesselis Anon,
tbe lest ^e ban Amonges Ecbon,
to pot otiMojM And tbedir Inne lete se tbe Cbild go :

out to MA ' ** '

In * uttto bo«t» And tbe lyown pnttetb bym vnto, 30

with Um IfcMI, .^. r^ t • ^

uA uoihing dH^ W ith-owten ony Otbir thyng

that bym Mihte to londe bryng ;

And ^if be ne deye not so,

Ellis may fere neaere thing Cristen man alo ; 40

And this scbal I feitbfolly belere,

for tbe trewthe scbolen ^e sone preve ;
■othAt wbm tbo for wbanne tbe lyown An bongred is.

And that bis yyande doth be Mys, 44

iMwiUMttboboj. thanne ful wildely scbal be devouie

This cbild, bym with forto Socovre ;

and thus Avenged on him scbolen ^e be,

As I bane jow Schewed ful Certeinle." 48

ThitbdoM. thanne token they Celidoyne Anon,

& In A ful lytel hot was be don,

and tbe lyown was put bym to.

Wbanne Celidoyne Say it scholde be so, 52

that theke wilde beste with bym scholde be,

^t so wood an spetows was In Eche degre,

be left vp bis bond thanne there Anon,
cotidoTiw makM And b* Signe of the Crois he made bym vppon, 56

tbo dgn of tho

croM» And him there be-took be to god Almybt,

that he bym Scholde save bothe day & Nybt.
So thanne they putten bym Into the Se.

thanne Celidoyne Ajenward tomed be, CO

and spak to that Compenye tho

that swich ielonye hadde bym I-do,
«nd tciu Labors " ^e Men ful Cursed, and therto pervert,

cuntd mon ^

Enemyes of Crist, Sore scbal 30W smert I G4

CH. XXXIV.] CELIDOTKE GOES ON BO^RD SOLOMON'S SHIP.

461

36 wenen to slen me In this Manere.

but o]?er-wise, I troste be my lord so der,

I schal it Ascapen Ryht ful wel,

and 90 scholen perscben Everjdel, — 68

For tbeie-offen sekir Mown je be —

Anon As 30 Entren In to the see ;

For In Perse scbolen 3e neuere Comen A3e7n,

Wbens kyng Label 30W browhte, In Certeyn."^ 72

Thus sone blew the wynd ful sore,
that fer Into the se the vessel wente thore,
So that with-Inne A lytel stownde 75

they ne Myhte bym se, that stoden yppon the grownde.
So that thre dayes to-gideris they were,
Celidoyne & the lyown In this Manere,
With-Owten harm, ofer ony deseisse,
So wel the lyown Celidoyne dide plese. 80

The fowrthe day it happed so,
A-middis the se, As he was tho,
The fayre schip^ he sawh Anon,

Where-Inne this Ryal swerd was don ; 84

So that it happede, As be grace,
that this hot Cam there this schipa wace ;
and whanne this bot to )>* schip^bord was falle,
thanne beheld Selidoyne these lettres Alle, 88

and yndirstood hem there Everichon,
that so Into the Schip he hentrede Anon.

and whanne that he was the Schipe witA-Inne,
he Sawh there Many A wondirful gynne ; 92

for there fond he the bed. And the Crowne Also,
and the fowro branches that there-Onno weren do ;
Alle these behelde he wondirly faste.

thit ibay aluai aU
perkb.

and never raeda
Penlaagaiii.

Celidojne !• at
■ea for S days
with the lion,
who doean't hiut
him.

On the «th he
aeea Solomon'a
Ship,

ICoetou buardof
it,

and p«eii the Bed,
Cnm-ti, and
bptndlei.

' A. adds Qetif 57, col. 3), La xner ou yovs m'aues mis,
Tout destmira. Et si 1 eerres noiet et peri, et ent^rres es paines
d'ynfer, en la tenebreuse maieon ou toute doleur et toute xnes-
eaise habile. En chele maieon n'enterra pas li rois labiaus,
Car 11 s'en est ia ostes; ains ent^ra en la souuraine maison, et
en la ioiouse, c*on apiele paradia.

463

CELIDOTNE COMES TO A VARYELLOUS ISUL [CIL XXHT

The boat aod lion

Celidoyne sImimi
In Solomon't
Ship.

Next day h«
eomm to an lsl«.

and MM a man

■iMping thara.

Ha land*,
and than

Til it drowh to Nyht thafl Atte last* ; 96

and so wel it liked hym this Syhte,

that he was Sory it drowh so Ny the Njht :

So Atte laste Nyht was it tho,

that oMer Al the world the schadewe gan go. 100

Thanne Cam he to the Schippes boord ful sone,
aud ou^ Al the Se he looked Anone :
he ne Cowde Neyther sen hot ne lyown
Whiche werew put to his distrocciown ; 101

"Wherfore Sory was he tho,
For Mochel comfort p^ beste dede hym to.
thanne loked he bothe vp & down
Al Abowtes the Se In-virown, 103

And non qwarter he ne Cowde Aspie
If ethir lyown ne bot, ful Sekerlye.
And whanne he sawh In AUe degre
that Nowher In the water he ne Cowde hem se, 112
Ajen Into the Schipe he gan to lepe,
And there rppon A bord he fil On Slepe,
What for travaille and werynesse,
and that In the See he hadde distresse. 116

Thus Al Kyht Slepte 3onge Celydoyne
tyl on the Morwe day lyht Certayne :
and whanne the day gan forto sprynge,
Thanne happede Celido}nie In wakenenge, 120

and to the Schippis bord he cam Anone,
And Into the See he lookede thus sone ;
thanne was he A-Eyred to fom An yl
Whiche was A wondir Merveillous straunge pyL 124

And As he Into that yle beheld there,
he Sawh A man In a Merveillous Manere
vppon that yl lay There Slepynge :
Where offen he hadde gret Mcrveillynge : 128

And whanne verayly he wiste it was A man,
Owt of that Schipe Anon wente he than,
And hym beheld wondirly Sore,

CH. XrXIV.] HE FINDS HIS FATHER NA8CIEN8 ON THE ISLE.

463

And Evere the longere More & More. 132

Atte laste so Nygh he gan to gon,

that he knew it was his fadir Anon

that hyhte Sire Nasciens be Name,

A worthy knyht, and of Noble fame ; 136

Where-offen Anon gret loye he hadde,

that thorwgh God to his fadyr so was hadde.

And so be hym A-wook ful swetely,

And his Eyen he yp« Caste ful softely : 140

thanne whanne he sawh his sone it was,

Ful gret loye he Made In that plas ;

And yp he stirte thanne riht Anon,

And abowtes his Nekke his Armes he leide son,

& him Clipte & kyste An hundred Sithe,

So loyful he was, so glad and So blithe,

that bothe for loye & pyte he wepte

vppon that yl there he hadde Slepte. 148

" Now, swete sone," quod Nasciens tho,
" how to this yl Cowdest thou Go,
that from Alle the peplo it is so fer,
and Nethir lond ne place Abowtes nowher?" 152

*' lo, fadyr, In this Schip hider gan I gon,
that to fom jow lith be the roch of ston."
thanne Nasciens be-held the schip^ ful sore,
and knew wel he hadde I-seyn it be-fore. 156

Thanne gret loye Maden they there,
the Fadir to the sone In dyvers Manere,
And the Sone to the fadir, Aftyr his Myht ;
there was gret loye I jow plyht, 160

So the fadir the Sone gan forto &ayne,
And Axede of h3rm In Certeine
* how he Askapede, and I what manere,
Owt of the presoun of Calafere.' 164

thanne tolde he his fadir Anon,
" how that he owt of presown gan gon,
and I-born.In to An yl of the Se,

•ees that the man
U his father
Sir Nudfloa.

144 Naadenadlpaand
klaaea bia ton.

and aakt him how
he got to tha Isle.

They make great
Jqj together.

GelldoTiietenahia
flither hie ad-
▼entoree.

464 NA8CIEN8 AND CELIDOTNE BAIL FBOM THB ISLE. [CH. ZXXIT.

Wondirly fer from Eche Contre ; 168

At wheche yl be tempest and be storm

Aryyed kyng label me be-fom,

With a gret part of his Chevabye

thedir weren they dreven Certeinlye." 172

thaniie tolde he his Fadir Also
md Kint Ubai't Of kyng labelis Aviciouns, that cam him to
which h« Inter- be the ReTelacioufi of the holy gost —

ptvtol by tli« ^^

UuU-ohoM*thdph Whiche is lord of mihtes Most^ — 176

be wheche Revelacion And declarenge
aad haw L«M Kyng label Cam to Cristenynge.

Thanne tolde he his Fadir More Also,

vhat Ayentures that hym Comen to, 180

8ethen to-gederis last they were

Ful harde In presoun with Calafere.

thanne blessede Nasciens the trenite,

that swich Comfort let hym tho ^ere se, 184

and thanked god Oner AUe thyng

that hem hadde browht to so good Endyng.
NiMtoni and thanne from this yl they wenten Anon,

CalldoyiM so into . , _ , « ,

Botomon't Ship. And Into the Schip6 they gonne to gon ; 188

And they weren there-Into, p* owr Of Tyers,
thanne Cam there A wynd ful fyers,
And blew Into that schip^ there Anon
that fer Into the See the 8chip« gan gon, 192

So that from the Hoche the schip^ gan pase,
passeng In-to f' Se A ful gret Spase.
thanne loked forth Nasciens Anon there
Forto weten where that they were, 196

And he ne Cowde nowher abowtes hym se
Kethire lond, nejjer yl, In Non degre ;
thanne thanked he god ful hyghly,
and seide his preyers ful devoutly ; 200

So As he Cowdo In his Manere,
ful devoutly his preyeres seide he there.

t^^t n^ Thus thre dayes the tempest lasteile there.

^

OH. XXXIT.] TEST RBJOIGB AT THE FINB WEATHER.. '46S

and In drede of here deth In Eche Manere ; 204

And Swich A storm Endurede yppon the se,

that Nygh here deth hem thowhte to be ;

And they wayted Every Owr

Whanne y schip^ schold ban sonke be ))at stoure. 208

And so the fowrthe day at Nyht imtBtopeontiic

the wedyr stawnched, thorwh goddis Myht, *'

Aud At the Cleryng of the day

the wedyr ful Milde and softe he say, 212

Where-offen Glad & loyful bothe they were, Nasdent and

Whann^ they it syen In swich Manere ; of tiieeaim

for to fomitymes it ferde So

that to the deth they wenden ban go. 216

and whanwe the day wax bothen lyht & Cler^

"— ■^-^— — >-^^>.

^ MS xiv E iii, leaf 67, back, col. 2, adds: — ^il re- ne Adventure of
gaiderent deuant a^, et vii^ent vno petite isle dedens '^U'SS^,.
lequele il auoit .i. chastiel ferme, qui movlt estoit
biaiis par samblant. Mais il ne sorent en qi/cl terre TheyawMjitiond

-, . ■ii'i •! . jx'ir X wl in » castle on it,

ne en quel pais chele isle pooit estre, dont il furent but where they
.i. petit esmaiet, car il se doutoient moult qu41 ne cais- •^^"^•yknownot.
sent en males mains. Et la nef arriua a la riue deuant They come to the
le chastiel. Qt^ant il furent venu au port, si escouterent and liear a horn
ke dedens le chastiel souna .j. cor mot/It hautement, si S»ue.*°"**
ke d'ases loins le peust on oir. " Sire," fait celidoines, SfySJ^thJ"*
"Or sachies ke laiens a gens." ** voirs est," fait nas-
ciens. En che ke il disoient chou, voient il ke de Animmenae

«. .. . f .f 1 ji*i Riant oomee forth.

laiens issi vns gaians, li graindres de cors et u plus and teiis them

meruilleus ke nasciens eust onqwes veu, iour de >a vie. ^*^ ""* ^^
Et quant il voit cheus de la nef, si lor escrie, " Mar i
arriuastes en mon isle sans men [sic] congie ; Car mourir

vous 1 couuient." Quant nasciens voit venir le maufe Nasdena doea not

si grant et si espoentable, si ne seit que il en puisse bnMhough%^'

faire. Car il n'a ne lanche, ne escu, ne arme dont il se JJSnJS oi*5S

puisse deffendre. Destreche de mort et paours Tenmaine j^o drawa the

a che ke il keurt a I'espee qui tant estoit riche, et le si^rd, he dnwa

trait du fuerre. Et quant il ot fors traite, et regarde ''*
grant pieche, si le uoit si riche par samblant ke il
n'auoit onqu^s yen arme ke il prisaist tant enuers

chaste. Et pour le grant espoir de -la bonte qu'il i f"f jtfh'W"

qifide, le dreche en haut, et le commenche a branler. wunitbi«ikB

Mais au branler qu'il fist, ne sai s'il auint par mauuaiste *" **"'

del espee, ou par courous ke no^-^res sires eut a nascien {^J J^tound*^^ '**

GBAAL. 80

466

TEST 8KB ▲ 8HIP OOMIKO OTKB THK 8SA. [CH. ZXXIT.

that they myhten sen Every vrher,
c«iido>M tm a They syen A schip In the See

219

and Um httt is
MtlaKMctoM'b

!!• nys H ia the

ptalMt
Mkatt

VaMi«iialMM
oot of the ship,
■ad iroM to Aght

llMgUllt.

H« ftbdfl MMthar
•word at bit htH,
takaa Itap,

andranattMcteBt
light tbroogli
with It.

ThaRiaatflJIa
totba ground
twooning,

than Qttana
lildaooaanr.

to hia ship and
■allaaw^y.

Ha reproaehai tha
Sword with btUng
him at tha tlma
oTnaad.

CaUdoynaJiiattllaa
iht Sword,

and nTi It broka
througii loma ain
of Naaclana.

Th^ talk orar
tha advantnit.

del traire quil auoit fait del eepoe qui tant estoit biele
et boine par samblant, k'ele brisa par mi aukes prv-s
del enheudeure, si ke li brans en chai a t^rre, et ii
poins a toute Tenheudeure en remeet nascien en la
main. £t quant il voit cheste auenture, si est as$i:8
plus esbahis ke deuant ; Si s'areste tons tiespensis et
esbahis. £t qtiant il fa reuenus de chest penser, si
di»t, "par dieu, chi a le grignoni meraeille ke ion
ueisse piecha." Mais lore remest le poing desua le lit,
et dist ' k'il se metra du tout en la merchi iheni crist, et
sen [sic] con et le son fil, enners chel maufe qui si Tient
abrieues vers lui' Maintenant saut hors de *la nef, et
dist, " biaus peies ihegus cris, soies moi escns et defiense
encontre chest anemi ! " Lois regaida a ses pies, et \it
vne espee ke chil de la tour i orent laissie par auenture.
£t il le prent maintenant. Lois si s'adreche an gaiant,
et le fiert de si grant viertu qu*il li pierche andens les
coetes, Si ke li feis en parut d*autre part. £t qi/ant
li gaians se sent ferus si angoisseusement^ si n'a tant
de pooir qu'il se tienge en estant, ains chiet a terrc >i
angoisseus comrne chil qui angoisse de mort sent. £t
quant il est issus de pamison, si giete .L grant cri et
hideus. £t quant nasciens voit qu*il n'a mais garde de
luiy II ne ua pas au chastiel pour chou qu*il quide ke
il i ait gens, ains 8*en retoume, et entre en sa nef, si
ke en peu d'eure orent la veue perdeue du chastel et
del isle. £t quant nasciens vit qu'il estoit estors dt-l
gaiant, si vint a Tespee, et le cof?imencha a regarder, ti
dist a soi meisme {et che fu si haut ke celidoines le
pent bten oir), '^Ha, espee, tu ies la riens du monde
ke iou onqu^ plus prisaisse, fors seulement le saint
yaissiel ke on apiele 'graal.' Si t'ai a tort ei Ice ei
prisie; Car il m'est auis ke tu m'as ore si failli au
besoing ke chou est merueUes." " Sire,'* fait celidoines,
*' Sachies ke che n'est pas par mal de I'espee ; Mais
par aucun pechie dont vous estes entechies, ou p<ir
aucune demoustranche de nostre signeur : " e^ il respont,
'ke che puet bien estre.' ^£ndementiers ke nascieLs
et celidoines parloient ensi de cheste auentuie, si r&-
gardent en mi la mer, et voient vne nef qui venoit vers
aus. [The Additional MS 10,292 also has this Adveu-
tare, leaf 42, col. 3.]

' Freeh chapter.

CH. XXXIV.] NASCISNS AND CEUDOTNB FIND KINQ XORDREINB. 467

Towardia hem Cam ful gret lome ; 220 ship oominr

thanne seide Celidoyne to his fadir " Certeinle

here Come?! tydynges, what so they be ;

God graunte Grace that they ben Goode,

that Comen to ys yppon this salt floode.' 224

So lougd beheld they the Schipe tho

tyl Atte laste it Aproched hem to,

And so Nygh to-gederes gonne they be,

Tyl that Eyther wM-Inne myhte Ofer se. 228

Nasciens to the schippes bord iran to tron, Nudeiu mm

o o 7 KlngMoidreiM

And Into the tothir schip^ beheld Anon, on th« mw ship.

And sawh where that kyng Mordrayn

Pill pensifly there sat In Certayn ; 232

& Evere Abod he goddis grace,

for he ne wiste whedir to go, ne Into what place.

And whanne Sire Nasciens kyi7g Mordiayns say,
fill lowde he Cryde In his lay, 236 Headbtohim.

and seide, '' Sere, God Beste with )ow !
Ryht welcome je ben here to vs now."
And the kyng owt of his thowht Abreide,
And to sire Nasciens he wolde han seide, 240

but for loye he wepte so sore
that on word ne myhte he speken thore ;
but wttA-Owten ony word he gan to springe MordreiiMfpringi

Into Nodcna's

Into Nasciens Schip, with-Owten lesynge, 244 [i«rf«]

and Abowtes Nasciens Kekke his Arm he Caste,

And An hundred Sithes he kiste him faste ; Umm him,.

"A, Myn Owne brothir So leef and dere, oiiuhhnBrothtr,

I am ful loyful I se 30W here ! 248

a, leve brothir, how haven ae fare udMinhinihov

Im's fared linoe

Sethen that I lefte 30W In wo & Care, tbqrwon jMitod,

and sethen we two departed Asondir

Where-As was tempest & ful gret thondyrt 252

and how that 30 Comen In to this Contre,

2^ow, dere brother, telle ^e Me,"

Thanne Nasciens, that was so ful of loye

4G8 NAaCISKS tells XOBDRXUra OF THE TURNING ISLE. [CH. XXXIT.

hym thowhte he ne liadde non Maner A-Noye, 256
NaM-ient un» Tolde kyng Mordrains of his Aventure,

Mwrdrtiiu ill Us

aavtuioTM, how it be him Ferde, I the Enawie,

And how he was tempested bothe here & iheiVy
And therto In the presown of Calafer, — 260

" For ^owre baronage seide In Certayn
that with-owtcn dowte I hadde jow slayn/' —

bow bt WM boHM And that Certein dajes in presown he was ;

but Atte laste, thorwgh goddis Gias, 264

For Into the west was he browht,
But Into what place ne wiste he nowht,
but In An jl there he was,

fer from Every man In that plas ; 268

For habitacioun was non there,
but wUdemesse Abowtes Eches where,
So that it was the moste hydows place
that Evere Cristen man put In wase ; 272

And jit was he Evere ful sory
that the Name he ne knew trewly :
I' and )it At Alle tymes thowhte hym tho

which tamd op- That the yl him tomede bothe two & fro, 2T6

•Ide down erery ,,t^ , ,t^ ^ri

dajandflTtry Dothe Every day and Every JNyht,

BighL

thus Openly it Tomede In his Syht

And )it Aftir More he gan hym telle,
Of that Schip, how it befelle, 280

and how that there-Inne he entred was,
And how he fyl owt In that plas
but thorwh on word that he spak,
For In his Creauwce pere was a lak ; 284

and tolde he him the Signefyaunce
And how an Old Of Anothir Schip with-0 wtcn variaunce,

Man cunt to bimj

and of An old Man that there-Inne was,
and how his wordes hym plesod In that plas, 268

So that on slepe fyl he there
be his wordis In dyvers Manere.
Sethen Aftyr he hym tolde

OH. ZXZIV.] NASOIBNB SHOWS XOBDBBINS SOLOMON'b SWORD. 469

of y Schipe & the Man so bolde, 292

that l^evere sethen he hym Sye,

Kethir fer ne faste Bye.

Thanne tolde him Nasciens 3it wel More ^

of Mo trehulacions he hadde suffred before. 296 »«« then aii «•

otlwr trooblM.

Where offen the kyng Merveillede tho,
And to Nasciens thanne spak he vnto.

'' ^Sire kyng/' thanne quod Nasciens tho,
" Of this swerd scholen je heren Merveilles Mo, 300
that for non Evel thing ne brosed he nowht,
but As goddis Scharpnesse it is in myn thowht.^"
thanne Axede the kyng the swerd forto se, vuOtm snowt

. MordraiiM Solo-

That to hym was Merveillous In Al degie. 304 mon't swonL

And whanne the kyng had it long beholde.

In his herte he Merveillede Mani folde.

And seide to Sire Nasciens there,

** this is the most mei'veille that enere sawh I £re| 308

The Eicheste and the fairest Also

That Into Ony place myhte be do."

Thanne took the kyng this swerd on hond, Mordreiiw takm

And stille there-with he gan to stonde ; 312

In the ton hond the swerd, the to])er the pomel.
And hem departyd Every del. k bmiu in two^

And A wondir Aventure behappede tho,
that A^en to Gederis Anon gonnen they go; 316

And so faste to-gederis weren they loynt, ana then joh;i

that Neuere sethenes In non poynt
Neuere departed Asonder they were
For non Man that lyf beere. 320

Now, be my trowthe. Oner Alle thing
Many Merveilles werketh hevena kyng,
Whanne so lyhtly that it broken was.
And so lyhtly Al hoi [becam] In that plas ; 324

•-' "Chertes," fait 11, "la briseure de I'espee: Car par
manuaiste ne biiaa ele mie, aioB fu aucnne demonBtranche
de noetre signeor." **Par foi," fait li zois, *<ohe puet blen
estre."— A.

470 NA801SN8 18 WOUNDSO BT A SWORD. [CH. XZZIT.

And 80 Ijhtlj Into y Bchetbe it Cam,
thens As kyng Mordrajns drowh it than
And vhanne Alle this thej hadden don,

A wondOTftai cry A vondirful Sciv they herden Anon, 328

As ihovh it were A Manere of thondir,
Where-OiSen Alle hadden they gret wondir,

•*ao««tortiM *' Owt of the schipe, Cristen Man, thou go,

""'■* lest gret Synne falle the vnto." 332

Anon As the kyng this word heide,

Mortrdiujampt Into his owne Schip he Aaen ferde.

Into hit ahlp; ^ ^ '

ctUdofiMfoUoirti And So dide Celidoyne also ;

NitiiM guyi But INasciens behynde lefbe tho. 336

they Nere So sone Into the schip^ gon,

that A swerd to hym Cam Anon,

Al fer brennenge As hym thowhte,

— ^but he niste ho that it browhte — 340

■DdiscvftthroQffh that thorwh the left Scholdere it smot,

tiM ihoaMtr with

ftmrord. & gret wounde Made, so sore it bot ;

Bo that In tho Schip« he fyl Adown,
As thowgh it were In Manere of A swown. 344

thantie herde he there, him thonhte presente.
On that to hym Spak there veramente,
— ^but that he ne knew not his Menyng,
Nejjcr what it was to vndirstondyng ; 348

but as him thowhte In this Manere
that the Menyng of the vols was there, —
** this veniance now is sent to the
For draweng of y swerd, & were not worthe j 352

therfore Otterly I rede the
Anothir tyme that j^ou war be
to Erren Ajens thy Creatour,

Thy Makere, and Ek thi savioMr." 356

the kyng Som-what this yndirstood,
and so dyde Sire Kasciens In his Mood,

NMdtnt friis to but of that strok he was stoned so sore,

that plat down to the grownd fyl he thore ; 360

WhcQ he wakef^

he r^olcei that
God hat diaatlsd
him for hla liua.

at a fhther does
hia

CH. ZZXIV.] NASOIENS BEJOIOES AT OOD'b CHABTIBING HIH. 471

tbanne forth wente they hym forto A-wake,
and of hia swowneng hym vt forto take. •

and whanne of his swowneng Awaked he was,
ho loked Abowtes In that plas, 364

And say hem for hym wepin than ;
thanne In his herte MeiTeillen he gan,
" A, why wepen je so now for me ]
For now Mowen je wel knowen & se 368

that owre lord halt me A knyht
that he wele Chastise thorwh hia Miht,
and maken Me knowliche of My sinne,
And of the wikkednesse fat 1 haue lyved Inne. 372
Wherfore, thankynges now I him do,
that this Chastisyng sente me vnto ;
and As my fadir I worschepe hym Anon,
For he me Chastiseth As his sone." 376

Whanne these wordis he hadde seid there^
but "Evere^ he was of stedfast chere.
As A man ful of paciens & humilite,
As lik As desesed of the strok was he, 380

that Suf&ed Angwichs & mochel peyne,
and jet but litel ne wolde he seyne.

Thus fowre dayes and fowre Nyht
In the Schipd they weren, I the plyht^ 384

that wedir ne wynd ne was there non,
Forthere Into the se to gon.

But now leveth this Storye here, as je mown se.
And tometh to the messengeris where so tliey be, 388
that Nasciens to seken they weren sent,^
but Into what Contre, they Niste verament.

* ke la roine ot ennoies par sa terre pour querre aon frere
nasoien, car eie ne sauoit ou il estoit [MS ziv E Hi, leaf 68,
back, col. 1.]

[> MS BveiMre]

Nasdena, Gelf-
d<9ne, and Mor-
drelna are 4 daye
and nlghta in the
ahip.

The atoiy turna
to the Meeaengere
{get ol,«).

END OF YOL. I.

JOUX CHILD8 AND 80K, PBINTBUS.

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